


Camp Lake Elberon

by fruitsandpeachies, SimplyAbsolute



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Best Friends, F/F, Fluff and Humor, How much trouble could they possibly get into?, Human Characters, LOTS of Flirting too, Mild Language, Mutual Pining, Useless Lesbians, but gay, dumb teenagers doing dumb things, jealous Catra is jealous, the answer is a lot, their counselors have grey hair after this, they really are oblivious to one another
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:00:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 29,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23621974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fruitsandpeachies/pseuds/fruitsandpeachies, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SimplyAbsolute/pseuds/SimplyAbsolute
Summary: “It won’t be that bad, right?” Adora clearly saw Catra’s aggravated expression.“Hmpf,” Catra sighed.“Come on. It could be worse!” The smile on Adora’s face put the sunrise to shame, as always. “Maybe we’ll even get to meet other people!” Then she looked away. “Plus, we get to do it together, right?” Adora looked back at her.She returned her smile easily. “I guess…"Catra and Adora are off for the adventure of a lifetime! Well... at least that's what the brochure said, and they were going to be stuck out there for an entire month. However, more than what's to be expected can happen within that short time frame. Can two best friends overcome their metaphorical separation of being placed on two separate camp cabins and teams? Or will new friends... and old "friends" create a rift in between them before they can find each other again?
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 106
Kudos: 298





	1. Welcome to Camp

It was 6a.m. 6 fucking a.m. in the morning and Catra was already pissed. She had spent the night at Adora’s house so that they could be picked up together--in the _morning_ \--during _summer vacation_ \--by a bus that was going to bring them to what she imagined would be the equivalent to hell. You could say that she was not looking forward to this ‘experience’ at all.

Catra let out a long exhale as she adjusted the backpack slung over her left shoulder and looked over at Adora. _Adora_ was bright-eyed, composed and energized as ever...a sharp contrast to Catra’s own slouched and tired appearance. She continued to watch Adora as the girl tightly gripped both straps of her own backpack and continuously swiveled her head to either end of the street waiting for the bus to appear.

_How is Adora so excited for this trip? It’s almost laughable… The only plus side to this whole thing is that she looked pretty cute in the light of the sunrise…_

Catra continued to stare for a few more moments until they locked eyes. When they did, Adora gave Catra a small smile that caused her to look away quickly. 

_Why did they do this to us?! Why are they doing this to me?_ She thought about how she got herself into this situation in the first place.

She recalled her parents informing her that she would be shipped off to summer camp about two weeks ago. This was the summer before their senior year of high school, and Catra was determined to make the most of it before heading off to college. The list of things she wanted to do before senior year was long, and it all included spending as much time with Adora as possible. That was all fine, but having to spend more than a month with her at some off-the-wall camp did not vibe well with the plans she had already made.

Catra wanted to have fun doing what she wanted to do, you know? _Not_ what her parents told her to do. Maybe that was part of the reason why they were sending her to this camp... No doubt she’d always been a bit of an unruly child, and her parents were happy that Adora kept her calm most of the time, but her ‘I do what I want’ attitude caught up with her eventually.

_I don’t know how they think this will help ‘fix’ my attitude… They just don’t understand me._ Stranding her at a nightmare summer camp was the last thing her _attitude_ needed.

Catra was pulled from her thoughts as Adora nudged her shoulder. 

“It won’t be that bad, right?” Adora clearly saw Catra’s aggravated expression.

“Hmpf,” Catra sighed.

“Come on. It could be worse!” The smile on Adora’s face put the sunrise to shame, as always. “Maybe we’ll even get to meet other people!” Then she looked away. “Plus, we get to do it together, right?” Adora looked back at her.

Catra returned her smile easily. “I guess… but I still don’t know how you can be this positive and awake this early in the morning.”

“It’s just all the excitement!” The anticipation on Adora’s face turned into a sly smirk. “And I don’t know how _you_ can be this down and sleepy already. You slept like ten hours last night.”

“Yeah, yeah. I hope you already know I will be using you as my personal pillow on the ride there.”

They both hear the faint sound of an engine approaching in the distance and they turn in time to see the bus making its way toward them at the end of Adora’s street.

If the look on Catra’s face had been sour before, it had pulled into a downright sneer. “Is it too late to run? Would your parents believe us if we said it was canceled?”

“God, you’re dramatic. Have a little hope. Camp Lake Elberon can’t be that bad.” The bus squealed to a stop in front of them and the doors opened.

When Catra looked up the steps of the bus she was greeted by an old woman staring back at her. To her, this lady had to be like ninety years old, way too old to be driving a camp bus in Catra’s opinion. Her coke-bottle glasses alone should’ve been a sign.

"Names please?" She finally spoke in a soft but squeaky tone.

Catra raised her right pointer finger to her chest. "I don't fucking want to be here and…” She then pointed to Adora. “Little miss ray of sunshine."

"Catra!" she said through gritted teeth in a hushed tone. "Sorry ma'am, I'm Adora, and this is Catra."

They then saw the old lady pull a clipboard off the dash of the bus and scribble something on a piece of paper attached to it, presumably a list of their names, before tucking it away again.

“Alright girls, everything seems to be in order!” She said as Catra and Adora continued to wait on the street. “Come on now! Don’t be shy!” The old woman then began gesturing at them to get on. “Please feel free to sit wherever you like on the bus.”

Catra was the first one to get on and Adora followed quickly behind her. She stood at the top of the steps briefly to assess the seating situation. There was a fair amount of kids on the bus already, probably because they were the last kids to get picked up, and the only seats left were one next to some random kid who’s slouching took up three-fourths of the bench and one next to a super jittery girl that couldn’t seem to sit still for five seconds. 

_And I thought Adora’s excitement and bounciness was already too much… this girl is next level…_ Catra thought as she continued scanning the rows of seats in front of her. Luckily, she noticed a completely empty bench a few steps ahead of them. The bus began rolling again before they had a chance to be picky.

Catra walked a little bit past the seat and gestured to it so Adora could get in first. “M’lady.”

Adora rolled her eyes. “Oh, what a gentleman you are,” she said as she sat down and scooted towards the window.

“You know it,” she replied as she slid in next to her best friend. 

Although the bus ride out was rough, they got comfortable quickly. Catra rolled up her jacket and stuffed it on Adora’s shoulder as a pillow. She fished out the earbuds from the front pocket of her jeans before she plugged it into her cell and pulled up one of her favorite playlists. As the beats to her music soothed her she finally leaned back and rested her head on her makeshift pillow.

After a few songs she felt the pull of sleep calling her again.

“Already?” Adora’s voice was almost inaudible through the music playing, but Catra could feel her laugh through her shoulders. “Sleep tight, I guess.”

In response, Catra scooted even closer and all but smashed her friend against the bus window as she ‘got more comfortable.’ She had nearly the whole seat to herself now, and although she could hardly hear it, Adora blew a raspberry.

The bus rumbled on, and only a few seconds later she felt Adora shift under her and put an arm around her shoulders--presumably so it didn’t go numb. _This is nice_ , Catra thought. Only then was she able to doze off to the music in her ears and the arm around her.

* * *

Adora watched as Catra’s breathing evened out before she turned her focus to taking in the view outside of the bus window. They’ve only been driving for thirty minutes or so, but she could already see the subtle changes in scenery. There were more trees and the land around the road began rising and falling with hills that were turning an amazing orange color from the rising sun.

Their families typically didn’t drive this way out of their town, so it was refreshing to see a side of their world that Adora typically didn’t get to see. _Why have we never gone this far before?_

Honestly she would’ve been content just staring out that window the whole bus ride there, and she was planning on doing just that, until she felt a tap on her left shoulder from behind her. She shifted in her seat ever so slightly, careful enough not to disturb Catra, as she turned to face whoever had tried to get her attention.

She was met with a pair of warm brown eyes. “Hey, what’s your name?” a boy asked in a cheery tone.

“Uhh, Adora?”

“Well hi Adora! I’m Bow and this is my best friend Glimmer,” he said as he gestured to the pink haired girl next to him before he looked down at the sleeping form beside her. “Who’s that?”

“Oh, that’s Catra.” She smiled down at her. “She’s also my best friend. But she would probably tell you that I’m just her personal pillow.”

Almost like she’d heard her name, Catra grunted in her sleep and punched Adora’s thigh like you might punch a pillow to get more comfortable. If she didn’t have a mean right hook it would’ve been endearing.

Adora shifted underneath her friend’s head, but brought her attention back up to the people sitting behind her. “So have you ever been to this camp before?”

“Actually, yeah! We’ve been going to Camp Lake Elberon since freshman year. Glimmer’s mom is one of the counselors there.”

“Oh, really?” Adora began playing with a bit of her friend’s hair, thinking about how Catra probably wouldn’t want a parent hovering around them for their stay. “That sounds...fun.”

This made Glimmer look embarrassed for some reason. She made a face. “Ugh Bow! Why do you have to tell everyone that?! The less people know she’s my mom, the better.”

“Because your mom is cool!”

“No she’s not!”

“She’s always nice to me!”

“That’s because you’re _you,_ and I’m her daughter!”

“That doesn’t mean anything!” Bow whisper-shouted back to her.

“It means everything!”

_Okay… guess they’re fighting now…_ Adora thought to herself as she looked back down at Catra’s sleeping form. She ran her hand up and down Catra’s arm subconsciously before she pulled her closer. All the while, Glimmer and Bow continued to bicker behind them.

“You know what?” Glimmer asked. “Let’s just drop this.”

“Fine by me.” Bow replied. He had his arms crossed over his chest.

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

_Yikes_. Adora would’ve tuned them out if they hadn’t stopped talking at that point. She settled down further in the seat and checked her phone’s clock. Still a little over an hour to go. Maybe it was the company, but the drive felt longer than it was. She was just lucky that her phone still had signal at this point.

After another minute, she pulled one of Catra’s headphones out and stuck it into her own ear. _I've tasted blood and it is sweet/ I've had the rug pulled beneath my feet._

She grimaced and took it back out. _How does she sleep with that music on?_ She asked herself before she popped the earbud back into Catra’s ear. She would’ve put it on something else but by the looks of it, her friend still had a death grip around the phone in her lap and Adora wasn’t about to pry it from her hands.

“So Adora…” Glimmer began.

_Oh god they’re speaking to me again._ “Hm?” She hummed in response to her name being called.

“What school do you go to?”

“We go to Thaymor High.”

The girl grimaced. “Thaymor High?”

“Yes?”

“Oh.”

_Oh? What’s that supposed to mean?_ Adora thought to herself before she shot Glimmer this look that must’ve told her to explain.

“...I just mean, we’ve never had anyone from Thaymor High attend camp before. They just have a reputation, you know?”

“Glimmer!” Bow said through gritted teeth as he elbows her in the side.

“What?! You know it’s true!”

To be fair Adora was aware of the reputation surrounding Thaymor High, but she had never been blatantly called out like that before. Yeah they might have not been that highly rated of a school… and she may have seen a student get arrested once or twice… while she was in class... but it was her school, and she was kind of proud of it.

So she brushed off their comments. “What school do you guys go to?”

Glimmer perked up in her seat. “Glenmar Academy,” she said with a smile. _Was it the lighting or did she actually sparkle when she smiled??_

_Well, that explains that._ Adora thought as she resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

Glenmar academy had a reputation too, albeit much better than Thaymor, but still ‘bad’ in its own sense. It was known to be a snooty stuck up rich kid school, where only the ‘best of the best’ could attend. It didn’t help that this academy was a known rival to her own high school.

Given this knowledge Adora really wondered how two rich kids were being shipped off to the same camp as she was. And she was even more confused that this rich kid’s mom was supposedly one of the counselors there, too.

Adora must have been making a face, because Bow clearly felt the need to reassure her.

“There’s no need to let school rivalries get in the way of having fun this summer.” His positivity may have been forced. “Even though your school is...different. We all wear the same shirts at camp, so it doesn’t even matter!”

_Ugh_. Adora, while mildly bothered, knew that Catra was going to tear them apart when she got to hear all this firsthand.

She tried to put on her best fake unbothered face before she responded. “Haha, yeah...I guess you’re right…”

That was a convenient time to turn back around and focus on the bus seat in front of them. If their month at this camp was going to be anything like their bus trip, maybe she should’ve agreed to run away with Catra like she suggested before they got on this morning.

_Stay positive_ , she tried telling herself. This was a great opportunity. Just...maybe if she stayed only with Catra.

“So besides attending Thaymor… what else do you do?” Bow asked.

Adora wanted to smack herself as she turned back around. “Oh, you know… stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?” Glimmer asked.

_Holy shit these two are annoying._ Adora wasn’t one to cuss, but this situation seemed to call for it. She sighed to herself. “I mostly just run track after class and compete every once in a while, but other than that… nothing else expect going to Catra’s debates.”

“Debates?” Bow repeated.

And it was in that moment that Adora knew she shouldn’t have slipped up like that. Catra was really not okay with people knowing that she was on the debate team at their high school unless she was the one to tell them. Because ‘debate team was for nerds’ and she didn’t like directly associating herself with the team, even though she thoroughly enjoyed arguing. 

“Uhh... no, I didn’t say debates, I said D. Bates.” She looked between the pair. “That’s our principal?”

“What?” Bow breathed out in confusion.

“ANYWAY…what do you two like to do?” She wanted to jump out the window of this bus right now.

Glimmer just gave her a look before she answered. “Bow and I started an environmental club, where we go around local communities and clean up rivers every month.”

_Of course that’s what they do._ She fumed. _But how can I be irritated at people who do stuff like that?!_

“How lovely.” Adora responded in the least irritated voice she could muster. She was trying to be nice, but at this point, she was kind of done with talking.

“It’s actually pretty fun! Maybe you all should start one at Thaymor High too,” Glimmer continued and Adora just glared at her.

“Or not, that’s totally cool too!” Bow interjected before he whispered something into Glimmer’s ear that seemed to make her quiet down.

“Okay…” Adora said and she took their secret conversation as her cue to turn back around in her seat.

She pulled out her phone again to check the time. They were only about thirty minutes away from the camp now and she was sincerely hoping that she could spend this last half hour in silence. Adora leaned back into the hard bus seat and looked out the window again as she focused intently on the rise and fall of Catra’s body underneath her right hand.

And it was all going smoothly until they turned down a gravel road about twenty minutes later. As soon as they made that turn the bus started shaking so bad that Adora literally thought that it might fall apart. Not to mention the awful noise that resonated through the air. Adora almost immediately felt the body under her hand beginning to shift.

_Uh oh._ Adora visibly cringed, fearing the mood that her best friend would be in from being woken up so abruptly, before she dared to glance down at her.

She watched as Catra cracked open her eyes and scrunched up her face in reaction to the morning sun beating on her face through the window.

“The fuck?” Catra muttered.

_Why is that the first thing she says?_ Adora thought as she tried to stifle a laugh, but she couldn’t help but smile at her while she shook her head affectionately.

“We’re almost there,” she said sweetly.

“Okay, but why is the bus so damn loud?” Catra asked as she finally lifted her head off her makeshift jacket pillow she had scrunched up and placed on Adora earlier.

“We’re on a gravel road.”

“Gross.”

_That doesn’t even make any sense._ Adora was pulled from her thoughts as Catra locked eyes with her, then at the arm that was still wrapped around her body, then at Adora again before finally looking away. She can feel her tense under her hold.

“Uh…”

“Oh, right. Sorry!” Adora practically jumped out of her own skin by how fast she removed her arm from Catra to sit up straight again. “I just didn’t want you to slip off the seat…”

Catra doesn’t look at her. “Cool, cool.”

Adora was grateful that the bus had come to a stop, because she wasn’t sure what else to say. Why was that making her nervous? She was probably just excited for the camp. Yeah, that must be it.

Now that they weren’t flying down a gravel road, Adora was able to see out the window and get a good look at this camp they were supposed to spend the next month at. Honestly, from what she saw, it wasn’t super impressive. A twin set of cabins on one side of the bus loop, a large mess hall on the far other side.

There were other buildings and structures, but she didn’t get a good look at those before there was a call to exit the bus.

It took mere seconds for campers to stand from their seats and even quicker for them to start filing in towards the door. Adora felt like she should be standing, that’s what everyone else was doing, but she was prevented from doing so because of Catra. Even when the bus doors finally opened and kids started getting off the bus, she stayed in her seat.

“Catra? Are you going to get up?”

“Not until I have to.”

“Well… there’s almost no one left on the bus… so…” 

Even the two campers she was talking to earlier had already gotten off the bus.

“And?” Catra gave her a look that held nothing but attitude. “That’s the point Adora.”

“You literally want to be the last one off the bus?”

“Yep.”

“Well, you’re getting off this bus one way or another.”

Adora stood up from her seat, which was a challenge within itself since there was hardly any room between the bus seats, Catra and the window, before she shoved her best friend back by the shoulder. She then proceeded to shimmy her way in between Catra’s knees and the seat, trying extra hard not to think about how close her butt was to Catra’s face in this moment, until she finally stepped into the center aisle of the bus.

She stretched slightly to relieve her body of the ache from being slept on, while she continued to observe a very grumpy Catra who was still slouched in her seat. She glared at her as Adora picked up her own backpack and secured it on her shoulders, before she picked up Catra’s and slung it over the other one already on her back.

“Is there anyone left on the bus?” An unfamiliar voice asked from outside the bus.

“Just those two girls I think.”

_Shoot. Ugh, I think we’re already making a bad impression and we just got here..._

Adora grabbed onto her friend’s arm. “Come on Catra.”

“No.”

“We have to go.” She tugged on her arm.

Catra slid further down into her seat. “You go.”

“I’ll drag you off this bus if I have to.”

“I’d like to see you try princess. You already look ridiculous carrying two backpacks. What are you going to do? Carry me too?”

“Noooo, but I do have something else in mind that will definitely do the trick.” Adora gave her a smirk before she readied her hands.

Catra’s eyes widened. “Adora… what are you doing?”

There were a lot of things in this world that Catra hated: brown bananas, math, and Adora tickling her. She could see the devilish intentions in Adora’s eyes, too.

“If you dare,” Catra put up a finger in warning, “put a hand on--”

The backpacks on her shoulders slipped off and fell to the seat across the aisle, and Adora lunged. She dug her fingers into Catra’s ribs in a vicious attack, as she danced her fingers up and down her sides.

“Adora...ahaha!!” Catra yelled, half-accusatory and half out of laughter.

She tried to swipe the hands away, but unfortunately for her, Adora was too used to bugging her like this, so she was able to cling on.

“God...da...ahaha...mmit, Adora...” She was having a hard time breathing and tried her best to kick the other girl with a boot. “Let me...hehe...go...” The laughter was so loud it almost sounded painful.

Without much warning, a loud voice from the front of the bus interrupted.

“ _Ladies!”_

They jumped up, startled, and saw a tall figure standing on the steps into the bus, glaring back.

The figure was a woman, so tall her head nearly touched the roof of the bus even from the stairs. Her hair was long and, despite still appearing fairly young, was a shocking silver. It was pulled away from a striking face into a ponytail, which was tucked into an outdoorsy cap.

She was beautiful, despite being kind of intimidating--and was without a _doubt_ Glimmer’s mother, one of the camp counselors.

Adora stood straight up, clasping her hands at her sides. “We’re coming!” And to Catra, she whispered, “ _I am_ not _afraid of leaving you.”_

This finally made Catra huff and stand. They grabbed their backpacks from the opposite seat, without making eye contact with the counselor, and trudged out.

* * *

The part of the camp they exited out onto was a stretch of warm green grass between the twin cabins. There were a few charming flowers popping up here and there, but when the group of people filed out onto the space and trampled them…

The woman still stood at the front of the group.“Now that we are all here,” she glanced between Adora and Catra. “I would like to be the first person to welcome you to Camp Lake Elberon!”

There were a few mediocre claps, but for the most part the students acted just as tired as Catra was feeling. Only Adora, who was holding onto the straps of her backpacks, actually clapped.

_She’s such a dork._

Catra grined before she started to casually pick at her nails, while Adora stood at attention soaking in every last word that came out of this woman’s mouth. Honestly, Catra couldn’t care less, which is why she found almost anything else more entertaining than her. But… she figured that she should probably give this group of kids that she was going to spend the next month with, a once-over before she did anything else.

She raised her gaze from her nails and briefly scanned their faces one by one, quick to move on if she didn’t find them interesting, until her eyes landed on _her_.

_Lonnie._

The same Lonnie that she had one too many fights with in the past. The same one that has been going to school with them since they were five. The same one that knows almost every way there is to piss her off (she’d practically mastered it at this point). And the same one that just so happens to know about her _thing_ for Adora.

_What the actual fuck._

Catra continued to glare at her until she turned her head to make direct eye contact. She watched as her eyes widened in shock briefly, before she squinted them and scowled at her. They held each other’s gazes for a long moment and Catra was just itching to flip her off but she couldn’t exactly do that in front of everyone… so instead she did it under the cover of Adora’s back.

She watched as Lonnie’s jaw tightened and she knew she would have something to say later, but for now they both turned their attention back to the two counselors.

“When I call your names please split into your assigned group.” She paused to look at a clipboard before continuing. “Glimmer, Bow, Mermista, Perfuma and Adora… you will all be spending your time here under my guidance.”

Catra panicked. _Wait, what?_

Angella cleared her voice before she continued. “And Lonnie, Kyle, Rogelio, Scorpia and Catra… will be assigned to Ms. Weaver.”

“Wait.” Adora looked from the counselors to Catra, and back to the counselors. She stuck her hand up into the air. “Excuse me! I came here with my friend, and we need to be in the same cabin.”

The counselor--Glimmer’s mom--looked up from her list and blinked sympathetically. “I’m sorry, the cabins were already pre-decided. You’ll get the chance to make new friends here, and you’ll have plenty of time to spend together outside of scheduled activities.”

Catra was in such a state of shock of not being in the same cabin as Adora that she had completely disregarded the fact that she would be in one her Lonnie.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait… did you say I was in the same cabin as _her_?” She pointed a finger at the girl.

Angella checked her list one more time. “That is correct.”

“So you’re telling me that…. I HAVE TO BE IN THE SAME CABIN AS LONNIE???"

“Feelings mutual.” Lonnie scoffed under her breath.

“What did you just say?!”

When Adora put her hand up to stop her friend, Catra brushed it away and stomped closer to the snotty girl across the group. Though she tried to make herself look as menacing as possible, all Lonnie did was sneer.

“You heard what I said.” The steely cold in Lonnie’s eyes glinted, and she was clearly just trying to press buttons. “No one ever wants to be in the same room as you. Except,” she turned her sneer to the blonde girl, “for Adora.”

At that point, people really didn’t seem to know what was going on, so most of the campers just stood and watched, bewildered, as Catra stormed between two other people and right into Lonnie’s face.

“Take that back!” she snapped, balling her hands into fists.

From behind her, there was Adora’s exasperated voice: “Can we _not_ start fights on our first day here?” The way she spoke, it was clear she’d watched her friend pick fights before.

It was never _ill-intended_ , but still. On their first day??

Catra, still huffing, looked back at her best friend. She felt her blood boiling. “Yeah, well you’re not the one who has to spend the next month sleeping next to _this_ high-strunge muscle head.”

A noise growled from behind Lonnie’s clenched sneer. “Oh yeah? Well we all know the _real_ reason you want to be in the other cabin.” 

Lonnie’s gaze shifted to something over her shoulder, and Catra did a quick double take, before realizing that Adora was still standing behind her. She continued to watch as the other girl’s eyes slowly traveled up and down her best friend’s figure. Then she winked.

Did...?

Catra snapped her head back to where Adora stood, unimpressed, and back to Lonnie.

Did Lonnie just check her out?? _Did she just...? Nuh uh. No way. Not my girl!_

Catra stepped into Lonnie’s line of sight and snarled, their noses two inches away. “Leave her out of this, _asshole_.” Her fist was raised.

“Or what?” Lonnie’s heated breath wafted across her face.

Just as Catra was about to lay hands on the girl in front of her, she felt a strong grip on her left shoulder before she was tugged backwards. She almost stumbled from the force of the pull, but quickly recovered from the incident. Catra looked up to see who would have the audacity to attempt to break up a fight she was involved in, not even the resources officers at Thaymor High were that brave, and of course it was none other than _Miss High-and-Mighty_ herself.

“Girls! That’s enough!” Angella shouted. “Now, I don’t know what prior history there is between you too… but, I'm going to need you to set those differences aside, while you’re at camp. Is that clear?”

“But--”

“I said, is that clear?” She asked again in a sterner tone as she glanced between the two girls.

Now, Catra wasn’t stupid. Obviously she wasn’t strong enough to take on a woman of this stature… or maybe she could? Who knows. But she honestly shouldn’t be picking fights on the first day of camp. Not to mention that she could practically hear Adora yelling ‘you idiot, please do not argue with the counselors’ at her internally. So she let it go. Just this once.

“Fine.” She agreed.

Lonnie sighed. “Yes, ma’am…”

Angella clasped her hands together over her chest and smiled. “Okay, then. Now that we are all _acquainted_ with each other… how about we gather into our groups and then we can choose cabin names!”

The only thing stopping Catra from turning and chasing the bus that was pulling out of their campsite was Adora’s stern gaze on her back.

_Jesus Christ this is going to be a long month_.

Angella smiled with a firm sweetness. “Now, my campers step towards me, and Ms. Weaver’s campers with her, please!”

As the group began to disperse, Catra felt a familiar hand on her back. She turned around and was suddenly face to face with a very upset Adora. Her brows were furrowed and her mouth was drawn into a line.

“What is wrong with you today?!”

Catra was caught off guard. “...What?”

“First the bus, now this? You’re already in a _mood_ and it’s not even noon.”

“I--”

“Come on Adora!” A pink haired girl grabbed her friend by the arm and began pulling her away.

Adora just gave her this _look_ before she snapped her attention away from her and back to the other girl on her arm. Catra really didn’t know how to read that look. Maybe it was disappointment? A little bit of anger? Maybe even sadness? 

_And who the fuck was this girl clinging onto Adora??_

She had hardly any time to think before getting pulled away by her new cabinmates.

They were all gathered into a haphazard circle chatting away. They all seemed to be introducing each other and enthusing about the coming weeks.

None of these people particularly stood out to Catra, and maybe it was because she was in a bad mood, but she couldn’t force herself to care about the dumb things everyone else was talking about.

“So...what should our cabin name be?!” a scrawny blonde haired boy asked. Catra couldn’t remember his name.

“Hm. That’s a tough one. Oh, maybe something fun and peppy!” A tall tall girl suggested. Scorpia if she remembered correctly.

“Yeah, no.” Lonnie replied. “We’re not in elementary school.”

There was a slightly larger kid, with a gnarled face and quiet eyes, who tapped the shoulder of the scrawny kid. He signed something to the smaller one.

_Oh…he’s deaf?_ Catra thought as she continued to watch his hands move.

“Rogelio thinks...” Kyle, that was his name. Kyle. “He thinks that The Fright Zone is a good idea for a name.”

The group went quiet and just kind of looked at them.

Kyle smiled at the larger kid and began signing to him. “That’s a good idea, let’s...consider it, okay Rogelio?”

Rogelio nodded.

While they discussed, Catra wandered her bored eyes over to across the small stretch of field. Adora seemed intently discussing things with her own cabinmates, not even looking over. _What were they deciding?_ She wondered. _Could I bribe the counselor to let me over into that one?_ Probably not.

“How about the horde?” Lonnie suggested.

Catra rolled her eyes. “We’re not calling ourselves the whores.”

She narrowed her eyes at her in a challenge. “Not whore, idiot. Horde.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“If I may interrupt…” Scorpia interjected. “I think it just means a group of people?”

“Woooooow.” Catra let out an antagonizing chuckle. “Way to be original, Lonnie.”

“You know what…”

“And that’s time!” Ms. Weaver called out. _Even her voice is creepy._

“There was a time limit?!” Scorpia shouted.

The counselor waved her hand in the air in a “come hither” motion. “Gather round and tell me the cabin name you’ve decided on.” She couldn’t have sounded any less interested.

“The Horde! The Horde!” Lonnie began shouting into the air as they walked towards the woman.

“No! We did not decide on that!”

“Maybe if someone else had come up with any _better_ ideas.” The sneer on Lonnie’s face was nasty, and Catra wanted to punch it off her.

Ms Weaver turns towards the other counselor. “And Mrs. Angella, what did your group decide?”

She smiled wide and bright. “The princesses!”

Catra immediately glanced over to Adora with a smirk on her face. Even if her best friend was still mad at her for some reason she still caught a glimpse of the slight blush on her cheeks before she ducked her head out of sight. 

_She is definitely going to hear about this later. The princesses. Ha! What a joke..._

“Alright. Looks like we have the Horde versus the Princesses this year!” Angella cheered from afar. Her ponytail swung as she clapped, and for a moment she saw a resemblance between her and the girl that had pulled Adora aside.

“Now that that’s decided, let’s all go get settled in, huh?”

The counselors then led their respective groups to each of the two big cabins they had been discussing between. Each one was pretty tall and had very woodsy exteriors, with wind chimes and wood carvings, and window boxes full of flowers.

People chatted as they walked up the ramp.

Everyone seemed to have no problem getting along together, and the whole thing might’ve been at least a _little_ fun, but Catra was still bitter. She was upset that she didn’t share a cabin with Adora, upset that Lonnie was back in her life taunting her, and her counselor seemed to have a major stick up her ass.

The lady just stood there and stared at them with sunglasses, like a creepy shadow, as they all filled into the cabin. _At least it’s better than Miss High-and-Mighty._

The inside was bright and clean. Bunk beds around the edges pointed inwards to the large interior, ceiling raising above them into a point. There were shelves and storage spaces for their belongings.

On each bed was folded the stupidest-looking uniform Catra had ever seen, a polo T-shirt with dorky pants covered in pockets. _Adora is going to love this_ , she rolled her eyes internally. Everything seemed to be color-coordinated in maroons and dusty oranges. As an added bonus, their names were written on little pieces of paper and stuck to the end of each bed.

_They even decide where we sleep,_ Catra rolled her eyes again for the umpteenth time today.

Catra climbed up the narrow ladder to her bunk and dramatically flopped onto her bed. It wasn’t as plush as she initially expected, but her body still bounced up off of it a few times before she settled completely. She rolled onto her back and traced the cracks in the ceiling with her eyes, wishing that she was anywhere but here right now.

_So I guess this is my life for the next month..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fan Art:  
> [Catra Looking at Adora](https://twitter.com/_bibsart/status/1269457798057930753) by [bibs'art](https://twitter.com/_bibsart) on Twitter
> 
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	2. Orientation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! We're back with a brand new chapter! We got a lot of comments last time asking for more jealous and pining Catra, and we think you'll be happy what we came up with in this 🤣 Hope you all survived season 5 too. It was everything and anything the fandom could've asked for. Anyway, enjoy!
> 
> -Jess

The morning seemed to go by much faster than Adora had expected. She wasn’t feeling any of the sleepiness from waking up so early, which she definitely couldn’t say for all her other cabinmates who looked run down and worn out from basically doing nothing yet. 

Maybe it was just the excitement of it all? At least that’s how it felt to Adora; her campmates were already all too ingrained in their late summer sleep schedules that they weren’t used to waking up this early anymore. Or maybe it was just their sleeping arrangements. Being taken away from their homes and shoved into really uncomfortable beds was a surefire way to piss off a bunch of seventeen year olds.

Speaking of pissed off seventeen year olds, it kind of sucked that her and Catra weren’t in the same cabin, but she had no doubts they’d still get to do camp activities together. Summer camps really only split people up for housing and for competitive activities. Catra always liked being competitive with her anyways, so what was the big deal?

_ But it would still have been cool if we could’ve at least shared the same cabin... _

Adora shook her disappointment off and focused. There was a lot of orientation to go through, but when it was over, they were all directed to the mess hall for breakfast. She’d already eaten, but all the commotion made her a little hungry again.

At least the cafeteria wasn’t divided into cabins, she thought. They were allowed to sit wherever they wanted. She stood in line with the others, trying to look around to see where Catra was amongst the other bodies, but didn’t end up running back into her until after she sat down.

Catra slammed her food tray down on the table across from her and quickly tucked her legs in under the bench without a word. Thankfully, they were the only two people at this particular lunch table right now, because that definitely would’ve been cause for question from the other campers.

_ Well, she’s clearly in a bad mood already... _

Adora slowly chewed on her french toast while watching her friend angrily mash up a sausage with a fork. “So…I take it that you’re not looking forward to the tour this morning?”

Catra glared at her. “Hell no.”

“Why-”

“Because  _ Adora _ , so far not a single thing has been  _ fun _ .” She slammed a hand down on the table. “My cabinmates are loud, my counselor is really freaky, and I’m forced to wear this  _ stupid  _ uniform.”

_ Oh yikes. She really  _ was _ in a bad mood. _ Adora swung her feet, looking disappointedly at her glass of milk before looking back up. “The uniform isn’t that bad.”

The roll to Catra’s eyes was classic. “Easy for you to say. You actually look good in it.”

It would’ve been too easy to tease her about that, and Adora knew her cheeks were red, but her companion seemed too upset to tease right then. She unceremoniously licked a bit of syrup from her french toast off the side of her hand. “Have you talked with your other cabinmates?”

“Nah, they’re all annoying. You?”

Adora shrugged and made a noncommittal noise in the back of her throat. “There are those two from the bus that keep trying to be best friends with me. They’re also kind of...” Her gaze landed to two people walking in their direction. “God damn it, speak of the devil.”

Catra just turned in time to see Glimmer and Bow enthusiastically drop their breakfast trays down on either side of the table next to them.

“We finally get to meet you when you’re awake!” Bow turned his greeting towards Catra. He stuck out his hands, and they all could see the painted nails hanging for just a second before dropping. “Okay so we’re not shaking hands, that’s fine.”

Bow sat down to Catra’s left after his failed handshake attempt and Adora immediately noticed her shift away from him a little instantly. Adora was too caught up in her observation of Catra that she hadn’t noticed Glimmer sit down right next to her. She was so close that she could practically feel her body heat radiating from her. Apparently this girl had never heard of personal space.

She tensed and glanced back over to Catra who was now scowling.

_ How is it possible that she looks even more upset than when she first sat down? _

“So…you’re Catra, right?” Glimmer began. “Adora told us a lot about you on the bus ride here…that’s why we were kind of excited to meet you!”

“Oh, did she now?” Catra asked through gritted teeth.

That look she sent Adora made her blood run cold.  _ Oops. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. _

“Uh, yeah…I guess kinda did?”

“You two seem really close!” Bow interjected. He was obviously trying to change the subject somehow, or at least ease the tension in the room. “We know how nice it is to attend camp with your best friend!”

“Yeah, yeah Arrow. Adora, what exactly did you tell them?”

“It’s Bow…”

“I didn’t tell them a lot, I swear! Just that we go to school together, that you’re my best friend, and that’s about it. Yep. That’s definitely everything.”

Adora conveniently left out the fact that she let Catra’s participation in the debate club accidently slip…or that they both saw how much of a cuddler she was on the bus.

Catra glared at her again. “You’re a horrible liar, you know this right?”

She glanced away. “But it’s the truth…”

“Hmm...more like part of the truth…”

“Anyway!” Glimmer cleared her throat. “Adora are you excited to finally see the camp? My mom always takes our group to some of the best hidden spots around the camp grounds! It’s amazing every year!”

“I’m actually kind of looking forward to it? It’s been kind of a slow start to things around here, with all the orientations and stuff...I’m ready to go out and see some things!”

Glimmer squealed and grabbed onto Adora’s arm. “Yes! I know you’re going to love it!”

_ Snap _ .

They all looked over and saw the plastic fork in Catra’s hand had completely broken in half in her grip. Then she dropped it without even looking. “Looks like I need a new fork.” She stood and left the table.

Adora was left stunned and speechless.

Bow furrowed his brows as he watched her walk away before turning back to the table. “What was all that about?”

“Whatever it was it seemed like an overreaction to nothing.” Glimmer stated. “Well, whatever it was it looks like she’s not coming back anytime soon… Ready for the tour?!”

“I...uh...yeah I guess I am?” Adora said flatly as she watched Catra throw away the rest of her breakfast and storm out the doors of the mess hall.

The trio got out from their table, threw away their trash and exited the mess hall. Adora already knew it was going to be a long day and it had barely even begun…

* * *

It was  _ impossible _ not to be upset. While everyone was still inside the mess hall, Catra paced angry footsteps into the grass outside, kicking rocks and trying not to explode.

_ First  _ they drag her to a stupid camp.  _ Second  _ they took Adora away from her and put her in a different cabin. And to add salt to her wound, Adora somehow found the most  _ annoying _ girl in camp to cling to?? Did she even find this girl interesting?

Catra knew this dumb feeling inside of her was useless, because at least Adora seemed to be having fun.  _ This is stupid. _

She pulled her phone out of her shorts pocket and began flipping through her social media. There was super crappy signal out there, so the only thing that would load was an ad on Facebook.

“Damn it,” she grumbled, but just before she stuffed the phone back into her pocket, a shadow rose up behind her.

The shadow spoke. “I forgot to say at orientation,” Ms Weaver’s voice was like cold steel, “cellular phones aren’t allowed except for specified times and situations. Please hand it over.”

This was the lemon juice on Catra’s salted wound. She felt her muscles clench automatically. “But--”

The counselor opened her hand wordlessly.

Catra handed it over.

_ This fucking sucks. _

She couldn’t even do anything destructive, either, like kicking up patches of perfectly-mowed grass; breakfast seemed to be over, and everyone else began filing out of the mess hall’s doors. The groups were already kind of dividing up, and from where she was, Catra saw Adora walk out with her two new best friends.

God, it really wasn’t fair. Adora looked  _ seriously _ good in her uniform. When she saw Catra looking, she gave a small smile and a cautious wave.

Catra mimed choking herself, which earned only a semi amused shake of the other girl’s head.

“What’s the matter?” Somehow, an even  _ more annoying _ voice burst her already aggravated bubble, and Lonnie sidled up next to Catra. “Do you miss your toy already, kitty cat?” she teased. “How sad...looks like she has already moved on.”

“Excuse me?” Catra snarled.

“They're the perfect couple honestly, they look so good together.” She smirked before facing Catra directly. “It must be so hard for you to be this close to her, but farther away than you’ve ever been, huh?”

“Okay, firstly stop acting like you know anything about _us_...” _I’m going to kill her. I’m seriously going to kill her._ “And secondly...if you talk bad about her again, I will shove my foot so far up your ass you’ll be spitting my toenails for a week.”

She cocked her head to the side, clearly unfazed by Catra’s words. Her eyes glinted dangerously. “Aww, you’re so protective over her. It’s cute.”

“Shut the fuck up Lonnie!” She growled. “You must be dumber than you look, trying to pick a fight with me after you lost our last one.” Her hands were itching to throw punches. “And don’t you ever,  _ ever  _ call me  _ kitty cat _ again.”

“Or  _ what _ ?”

Catra clenched both her fists at her sides so strongly that she was practically white knuckled. “Or I’m-”

“Girls, if you are done with your bickering...we can proceed with the tour.” Ms. Weaver said in a steely voice.

They both turned to face her. The only person in that whole camp that was scarier than Catra and Lonnie ready to kill each other was Ms. Weaver and her sunglasses that were as dark as a black hole--and probably just as soul-sucking.  _ Who let her be in charge of a summer camp? _

“Well, if she wasn’t being so--”

“That’s enough.” Ms Weaver cut Catra off, and even behind her glasses they knew she had her eyes narrowed. “You aren’t children anymore. I should expect you to know how to get along without squabbling.” She looked at Lonnie. “Am I clear?”

For the first time, Lonnie seemed to straighten almost respectfully. “Yes ma’am,” she grumbled.

“Good. Let us begin the tour.”

_ God, this is going to the worst month of my life _ .

From the mess hall, Ms Weaver began their tour by having them take a step back slightly closer to the center of the camp so they could see the building they’d had breakfast in. She held one of her hands up.

“As I hope you’ve gathered, this is the mess hall. Most meals will take place within its walls as well any indoor activities. The doors will be open twenty-four hours a day but food will only be served at designated meal times.”

The one thing that would’ve made their time at camp even worse would be separated meals between the two cabins. Catra was forced to be at least a little grateful that her and Adora could share meals together. Things were already dumb enough as it was. They got  _ that _ .

“The food  _ was _ pretty good,” Scorpia was telling Kyle and Rogelio, patting her stomach jovially. “I might come back home bigger than when I left.”

They laughed together for a moment. It made Catra miss her best friend even worse.

Ms. Weaver continued to talk as they walked towards a smaller structure to the left. “Over here we have the storage shed where we keep most of our supplies for our field days, hiking excursions and emergency supplies.” She cracked open the small door to the shed and led the campers inside. “As you can see, almost everything in here is organized by activity and stored neatly on the shelves.” She looked directly at Catra again. “And I intend to keep it that way.”

_ Seriously, what is this lady’s problem with me? I swear if she looks at me like that one more time I’m gonna lose it. _

As they all began to file out of the storage shed something on a shelf to her right caught her eye. She lingered towards the back of the group and just before she exited, Catra rushed over to the shelf and quickly pocketed a can of bug spray into one of the many pockets of her cargo shorts.

She was probably lucky that no one saw, because if Lonnie had, she would’ve snitched immediately.

Their cabin continued.

Ms Weaver led them past the storage cabin and around the back of the mess hall. There was a nice dirt path that stretched across the mowed grass, weaving between scarce trees until they came upon a greenhouse. Even from the outside, smells of warm soil and plants wafted from it.

“We are fortunate enough to have the ability to grow our own food here at the camp,” their counselor said, opening the door and leading them in, “so every meal you eat is made fresh. There will be several days we will spend here either doing gardening ourselves or learning wilderness plant safety.”

_ That is  _ so  _ dumb.  _ Catra lifted a leaf of the nearest tomato plant and let out a huff. There was no doubt Adora was going to  _ love _ any of these classes. Getting down covered in dirt, wearing gardening coveralls, strands of blonde hair easily slipping from her ponytail and sticky to her face. It was hard to despise something she knew Adora might enjoy.

The cabin spent a few minutes there, checking out the shelves of gardening supplies and the rows of different types of medicinal herbs, vegetables, and fruits. Catra was honestly shocked that a run down camp like this was growing their own food in the first place. She thought that she would be eating frozen foods and stuff out of a can for the next month as soon as the bus arrived a couple days ago, but she was actually somewhat pleasantly surprised for once?

As they left the greenhouse Catra was able to catch a small glimpse of her best friend and her cabin adamantly discussing something over by the flagpole and fire pit area. Knowing her, she was probably lecturing Angella on proper rope knot tying or some shit that she was weirdly good at for some reason. Either way it still brought a smile to Catra’s face while they swiftly walked towards the lake and dock.

“What are you smiling for?”

And as soon as Catra heard Lonnie’s voice again her smile was gone. “Mind you’re own fucking buisness!”

Lonnie just smirked at her and sped up so she was walking closer to the front of the group. Clearly just trying to piss Catra off again, but too chicken to face the consequences while a counselor was around.

They walked a few more feet before coming to a stop on a patch of land where the field grass met the gravely shores of the lake. If Catra wasn’t so frustrated right now she might have even called it beautiful, or maybe even scenic, but she was too preoccupied with glaring daggers at the back of Lonnie’s head and tracing pattern into the ground with her boot to concentrate on much of anything else.

The sun was getting higher overhead. They had their phones confiscated so no one knew exactly what time it was, but the sunlight conveniently reflected off the surface of the lake at the perfect angle to blind Catra. She wasn’t a big fan of water...

The one time her and Adora’s family’s went camping at a lake a few summers back, all Catra remembered was making fun of Adora’s swimsuit while trying to cover up how scrambled it made her brain feel.

“And here we have Lake Elberon.” Ms Weaver casually gestured towards the water. “In which our camp is clearly named after.”

“Wow, no fucking way. Who would’ve thought…” Catra mumbled under her breath.

Her counselor’s focus immediately snapped towards her. “Catra would you like to share something with the group?”

“Oh, no. Please continue,” she said in a sarcastic voice.

“Very well.” Ms. Weaver slowly turned back to the docks. “As you can see this is our main dock where we will launch our canoes from when the time comes, and over here to our left is the shack where the canoes are stored along with other safety equipment. Which brings us to a brief lesson.” 

Catra rolled her eyes and groaned as her counselor opened up the doors to the canoe shack and pulled out a few life jackets and what appeared to be flares.

“In the event of a water emergency you will have to know how to inflate your life jackets and how to signal search and rescue teams. Hopefully a situation will never have to come to that, but one should always be prepared.”

It seemed like Catra wasn’t the only one to not look forward to the safety lesson. Everyone let out quiet groans but did as they were told and grabbed life vests.

The counselor walked them through the motions of putting on the vests and how to inflate them, as well as the various functions of the blinking red lights and the pockets. Catra had to resist the urge to vandalize them, only because with her luck she might need one.

Safety training lasted way too long. After the first five minutes, Ms. Weaver’s voice became nothing more than white noise in the background. Catra let her eyes wander around the shed to the wall shelves. There wasn’t nearly as good of stuff as the other storage shed, so she didn’t feel the urge to pocket anything else.

By the time the training lesson was done, Catra was about ready to throw herself off the dock.

_ How many god damn times do we have to learn how to inflate a life vest and set off a flare?! It’s literally self explanatory at this point! _

She nearly cheered when her counselor said that they would be heading over to their next part of camp. They all put their life vests, flares and other supplies back into the canoe shack before following after her. Disappointingly, Catra wasn’t able to locate Adora and her group anywhere as they walked to the main center of camp where her friend had been about an hour ago.

“I would now like to direct your attention to the center of our camp. Each cabin will alternate raising the flag each morning, as well as hosting  _ celebratory  _ bonfires if they are properly earned over the course of your time spent here.”

The way she said those words made Catra feel like she was serving out a prison sentence, not attending the joyful summer camp that this was supposed to be.

There were seats around the center firepit in a U-shape, and the campers gathered around and sat to watch their counselor as she pulled a few items from a rucksack that was slung at her side. It was hard to see from there, but Ms Weaver turned to her campers.

“I don’t expect any of you will need to light this bonfire, but on free days it is a choice, so I’m legally obligated to show you proper fire safety.”

Although it wasn’t as boring as the water safety, Catra nearly dozed at the continuing sound of her voice. The only thing that she paid attention to at all was the lighter in her counselor’s hand being set on the edge of the seats after starting the first fire.

_ This is boring _ , Catra thought, sitting back.  _ Maybe... _ She scooted closer to the edge and managed to snatch the lighter when Ms Weaver’s back was turned. No one noticed, which was definitely a good thing.

The counselor put the fire out and then motioned for the others to stand. “Who would like to try the proper fighter starting technique first?”

_ This was going to be hilarious _ . Finally, Catra got to have a little fun. She hopped off her seat and shoved Lonnie with her shoulder going past.

“Ms. Weaver, I would like to demonstrate please,” she said through a grin as she began to rummage through her pockets.

The counselor gave her a curious look before speaking. “Okay? Just so long as you use the proper-”

And before Ms. Weaver could even finish that sentence, Catra had pulled out the can of bug spray from her cargo shorts, held the lighter up to it and created a pseudo mini flamethrower. The campers around her scrambled to safety as she dosed the small bonfire pit in flames.

She could feel the heat from her flamethrower tickle her fingertips, and the gasps from everyone around her only fueled her chaotic urges.

One minute she was having the time of her life and the next her hands were being yanked apart and the lighter in her left was snatched from her grip. Ms Weaver’s nails dug crescents into her wrist. The lighter fell to the grass.

_ How dare she touch me like that.  _ Catra struggled against the grip on her arm.  _ Who the fuck does this woman think she is? _

“What do you think you’re doing?!” she shouted in a stern iry voice as she began to drag Catra away from the group. “We are taking this up with Hordak right now! The rest of you stay here until we, no I, get back!”

_ Hordak? And what does she mean by I won’t be coming back?  _ Catra struggled for another second before finally relenting to the vice, and she let herself be dragged across the camp.

They stormed to the opposite side of the camp, back towards their cabins. There was a larger building to the southern edge, with windows covered by blinds and rickety steps leading up to the porch. It wasn’t necessarily unkempt, but definitely held a bit more of a menacing feel that the rest of the property.

“ _ In _ ,” Ms Weaver growled, furiously opening the door and shoving her camper inside.

She didn’t want to, but Catra felt her heart pounding in her chest almost in fear. She’d gotten in trouble  _ plenty of times _ before, but this felt different. Her counselor’s scary demeanor, the fact that they were in the middle of nowhere.  _ Adora would be ashamed of me _ , she cursed herself.

It was almost worth the flamethrower. Almost.

“Hordak!” Ms Weaver pulled Catra up to a makeshift front desk, where a dying houseplant sat quietly. “The  _ first _ day and we already have trouble.”

_ Who’s this Hordak she’s talking about,  _ Catra wondered, _ and why is his name so stupid sounding? _ The office they were in smelled too much like pepper, and it made her nose itch.

A shuffling noise was heard from behind one of the doors past the desk, and it opened.

“You’re interrupting my work, Ms Weaver.” A man stepped out.

He stood tall and rough, like his body parts were cut from stone. Everything from his cheekbones to the knuckles of his hands looked like weapons--and the look in his eyes. How were these freaky people allowed to be around children??

This man, Hordak, stepped up to his desk and sat. “You knew I was going to be busy with work today.” His voice was grating.

Was this the only person that the counselor didn’t want to talk down to? Because even  _ she _ seemed to straighten in his presence.

“Forgive the interruption,” she spoke, only then dropping Catra’s wrist. “ _ This _ one decided it would be funny to steal supplies and create a flamethrower in a very close proximity to the other campers. Someone could’ve been hurt.”

“What’s your name?” Hordak’s eyes, somehow colder than the counselor’s, bore holes into Catra’s forehead.

She tried to look intimidating. “Catra.”

“And you think that putting the safety of your fellow campers is funny? Do you think that a laugh is worth their lives?”

_ Jesus,  _ Catra thought. This dude was serious. “No one was going to get hurt.”

“And you  _ stole _ camp property.”

“It was a can of bug spray. I don’t think--”

“I am feeling generous today,” Hordak stood from his chair, towering over the girl and folding his hands behind his back. “But since you find it amusing to put the lives of others at risk, a punishment is due.”

Why did Ms Weaver look so happy hearing this? Did she enjoy watching people suffer??

“You are not to join the picnic lunch we have planned for your cabins.” Hordak sneered a little. “But I expect gratitude for my leniency, because this will  _ not _ be tolerated again. There are worse things than taking lunch alone, child.”

_ There are worse things.  _ Catra nodded furiously and turned, just eager to get out of the creepy office, but the voice stopped her one more time.

“Oh,” Hordak said. “You must not have quite felt that fire safety is important enough, so why don’t we put on a private showing of the safety videos?”

_ What??  _ That sounded like the most boring thing she could possibly do.

“Here in my office.”

_ What the hell was he-- _

“In fact, take lunch here, too. Maybe some quiet time will ease your destructive tendencies.”

Catra nearly screamed. This was the  _ worst possible punishment _ .

I guess there’s no seeing Adora for lunch after all...

* * *

Adora was having a great day so far.

They were about halfway through the camp tour and she had thoroughly enjoyed Angella’s safety lectures on the proper water and land safety! She was even able to show off some of her knot tying skills at the flagpole earlier, which she was proud to say that her counselor was very impressed by, so that gave her a little extra boost of confidence for the day. Now she was helping set up a picnic blanket with her fellow cabinmates, waiting for her best friend to make an appearance.

“So what do we have for lunch again?” Bow asked as he anchored down one of the blanket corners into the grass.

“Oh you know, the usual bologna sandwiches that Razz always makes for our camp picnics,” Glimmer responded.

“Razz? Wasn’t that the bus driver?”

“Yeah, she’s also the cook here too.”

Adora just stared back at her. “That’s weird... but okay…”

“Eh, you’ll get used to it. She is a  _ great _ cook!”

The trio sat down on top of their checkered blanket and grabbed their sandwiches and drinks from the small mini cooler that Angella had distributed to them before heading out to the field. Adora glanced up from her sandwich every few bites to see if Catra had arrived yet.

But then something strange happened.

Adora spotted a rather angry-looking Ms. Weaver leading her group of campers out to the field, but Catra was nowhere in sight.

A heavy furrow graced Adora’s brow as she scanned their faces, just to double check that she hadn’t missed her accidentally.

_ Where in the world could she possibly be or have gone off to? Maybe it has to do with why Ms. Weaver looks so mad? _ And then it struck her. _ Oh no... _

She set her sandwich down and quickly walked over to the other group that had just picked out their picnic spot in the field. Not knowing who else to ask, she went up to the only other familiar face in this camp hopes of getting some answers.

The dreadlocked girl set eyes on her as she was just about halfway towards them and immediately smiled.

_ This is not good… _

“Lookin’ for your girlfriend?” Lonnie teased. “I’m sorry, but she’s not here.”

“My what? She’s not--whatever--what happened to her?”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Other than her trying to set the whole camp on fire?”

“WHAT?!”

“Yeah, sorry to break it to ya, but your girl is a wannabe arsonist.”

“Ugh, Lonnie. Knock it off.” Adora pinched the bridge of her nose before speaking again. “Where is she now?”

“She got dragged to the counselor’s cabin by Ms. Weaver earlier. They were in there for a while and then Ms. Weaver came out by herself...I hope Catra’s  _ okay _ ,” Lonnie said in the fakest voice she’s ever heard.

Adora went to turn away from her to walk over to the counselor’s cabin to find out what really happened from Catra, but she stopped in her tracks when she heard a tsking sound coming from Lonnie.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Ms. Weaver said to stay away.”

Adora sighed as she glanced at the cabin one more time, before she decided it was best to listen to Ms. Weaver’s demands and walked back over to her picnic blanket, where Bow and Glimmer were now lying down on their picnic blanket. 

_ Well what was she supposed to do?  _ Poor Catra was probably miserable, but Adora had to remind herself that she might have done something to deserve it. Probably, but it still sucked for her.

She flopped onto the picnic blanket next to Bow and stared up at the sky.

“What’s up with you?” he asked.

“I just found out that my friend got in trouble for almost setting the camp on fire apparently.”

“Catra tried to set the camp on fire?”

“Yeah, I guess?” She lazily munched on her now-warm sandwich. “And now she’s in the counselor’s cabin? Whatever that means…”

Glimmer visibly cringed. “Oh, that is so not good.”

“Wait, why?”

“Because that’s where Hordak is, he basically owns the camp, and he also dishes out some serious punishment for misbehaving campers…”

“Not to mention he’s creepy as hell,” Bow chimed in.

“Yeah he is,” Glimmer agreed. 

_ Catra is going to be extremely pissed later…If that’s even possible after this morning… _

The day ended up passing by much faster than they anticipated. Lunch ended in the early afternoon, and the air was still warm when the campers packed up from lunch and got ready for the second half of the tour.

Catra was still nowhere to be seen, but Adora tried to put her out of her mind. She wished they could’ve had lunch together, but maybe she learned her lesson; not getting to see her for lunch almost felt like a punishment for both of them.

The tour started back up where they’d left off, at the field. They continued in the direction they came from that morning, towards the cabins, but instead of going to the front they continued around the back of the cabin where a small layout of squat buildings lined the path.

“These here are the bathhouses,” Angella explained. “The cabin with the light brown roof is for the girls, and the dark brown roof for the boys. You’ll find the toilets, showers, and any extra locker space for swimsuits, hygiene products, and anything else you may need.”

“At least there’s plumbing here,” Adora murmured to Glimmer, crossing her arms. “I don’t think I could live if there weren’t flushing toilets.”

In response, both of her new friends covered up their mouths to laugh quietly. Their counsellor continued.

She pointed her hand in the direction of the third building out back, which was smaller than the actual bathhouses. “We also do have a sauna, which you’re welcome to spend free time visiting. The only lock is from the inside, though, so don’t worry about getting locked inside.”

_ How would anyone--? _

Suddenly Adora felt like she just had the wind knocked out of her as a firm hand landed between her shoulder blades.

“What’s up loser?”

She could recognize that voice anywhere.

“Catra!” She coughed. “Where did you come from? I thought you were in trouble!”

“Yeah...what’s new.”

“Catra.”

“Fine. Yes, I got in trouble because I got a little...overzealous with a lighter and a can of bug spray.”

“Why in the world would you do that!” Adora whisper-shouted as to not alert the rest of the group.

Catra seemed to get her indirect message about wanting to remain undetected and stepped forward so they were closer to each other. “Because it seemed fun in my head, and I didn’t think it through like usual, but it’s okay now! I’m fine!”

“Are you fine?”

“Yes  _ mom _ , I am.”

“Ugh. You know I hate it when you do that!” She turned her head away from her.

“What?” She smiled and got in Adora’s face so that she was in her direct line of sight again. “Call you a mom because you’re overprotective like one?”

“I’m not  _ overprotective _ Catra, I…” She looked back at her and it was only then that she realized how close they were.

“You what?” Catra asked quietly and Adora swore that her eyes flickered down for a slight second.

“I… just care okay?”

“Catra!” They were both pulled from whatever this moment was when Ms. Weaver’s voice cut through the air. “Rejoin us now!”

“Well, looks like I gotta go princess… see you at dinner!”

And just like that Catra was gone for the third time today. For some reason, the tips of Adora’s fingers were tingling. How come this was the best part of the tour so far?

While their paths had converged for just a few minutes at the bathhouses, she found herself with just her own group after that. They took a quick look inside of the bathrooms and in the sauna before continuing.

Since they already knew their own cabins, the group instead passed and went to the last cabin structure on the other end of the grouping. They’d mentioned it in passing, so everyone kind of already knew it was the counsellor’s cabin.

_ Was this where Catra was taken when she got in trouble? _ Adora wondered.

It kind of  _ was _ creepy... She was grateful that they didn’t actually go inside, because from the way that Glimmer and Bow talked about Hordak, he might not have been someone she wanted to meet.

“This is the last part of our tour.” Angella stopped in front of the steps. “As I’m sure you’ve gathered, this cabin is where myself and Ms Weaver reside during this month, as well as where the camp director lives and works. Most likely, none of you will find yourselves in here, but if there ever was an emergency we’ll be here.”

The group only lingered for a few moments there before the cabin members began getting restless. They all knew that this was the last bit of the tour, and they’d already been out and about for several hours. If they felt anything like Adora did, they were ready to go explore and have fun.

Glimmer and Bow leaned over to Adora while the others chattered.

“Don’t get too excited.” Bow made a  _ blegh _ sound. “More instructional videos come after the tour.”

The look on Glimmer’s face was also bored. “Yeah. At least we get to watch it with the other cabin. Do you think Catra will want to watch it with us?”

Oh? They got to watch the videos with the other cabin?  _ Finally _ , they could sit together for something.

Adora followed the group back to the mess hall, per Angella’s instruction. No one seemed particularly excited about more safety videos--except for Adora, who looked forward to being able to see Catra again.

When Adora entered the mess hall again, it didn’t take long to spot that mop of curly brown hair splayed across a table that hid Catra’s face somewhere underneath. She made her way over her, not noticing her other two ‘friends’ were in tow behind her, and quickly sat down next to her.

“What’s up with you?” Adora asked as she brushed some of Catra’s hair out of the way to reveal the side of her face, since she was apparently forehead down on the table right now. 

“I don’t want to watch any more instructional videos today.” She turned her face towards her so now her left cheek was squished against the table.

Adora furrowed her brows. “Is that what your punishment was?”

“Yes…”   
  
“Wow, that sucks.”

“Tell me about it! I  _ know  _ the proper fire safety. I just  _ choose _ to ignore it.”

If she didn’t actually feel bad for her, Adora would’ve laughed. “That’s the worst possible punishment for you.”

At that point, their conversation was interrupted by one of the counsellors switching off the light and the other one flicking on a projector. All the chatter in the room did die down, but Catra groaned as loud as she could so everyone heard and turned her head so she was forehead down again.

_ This is going to be interesting... _

Surprisingly, the first thirty minutes of the video went on without incident, something about how to properly launch a canoe, but Adora wasn’t paying attention because she could only focus on the soft rise and fall of Catra’s back as she breathed. She could’ve sworn that her friend had fallen asleep…that was until she started squirming on the bench beside her.

“Adora.” She whispered.

“What?”

“Hi.”

“Catra shush.”

“Make me.”

At first, Adora tried to ignore the other girl’s attempts to get attention, but Catra wasn’t going to be ignored easily. She fully sat up and kept poking her friend’s arm over and over until Adora finally reacted.

Adora put out her hand to shove Catra’s hand away playfully--but her wrist was captured just in time.

“You’re going to get us in trouble,” Adora hissed, but it was more playful than she intended. From where her hand was caught in Catra’s, she could feel the sharp nails and calluses on the pads of her fingers.

Catra flicked Adora’s hand. “But I’m  _ bored.” _

“That’s not my problem--”

Adora tried to turn her attention back to the projection screen, but she was immediately distracted again when she felt Catra grab onto her hand and pull it closer to her on the table so that her palm was facing upwards. Her grip was much lighter this time as she began to uncurl Adora’s fingers and brush her own against her palm.

_ This is so distracting,  _ Adora wanted to scold her, but...didn’t. Why didn’t she stop her? Her eyes could focus on the projector screen but her nerves were on fire.  _ Focus, Adora. Don’t get in trouble. She’s just trying to annoy you _ .

It was a good thing that it was dark in the room, otherwise they’d probably be getting a lot of weird stares. Especially since Catra kept inching herself closer every few minutes until they were completely hip to hip on the bench, and so that Adora’s left arm was completely intertwined with Catra’s right.  _ If Lonnie saw... _ She rolled her eyes in the dark and kept letting Catra play with her hand.

The videos continued, small breaks between each. There wasn’t much of a chance to really talk, but Catra amused herself well enough with being annoying. Adora was very much used to it, but even so, when they came to a snack break, she had a hard time looking the other girl in her eyes.

She disentangled her arm from the other girl when the lights came back on. Still, no one saw.

During this break, the counselors passed out snacks and drinks and let all of the campers talk amongst themselves and mingle around the room to stretch their legs. To no surprise, Catra stayed by Adora’s side as they found a comfortable corner by themselves.

“This sucks,” Catra said with a mouthful of peanut butter apples. “How many videos do you think we could live through before the boredom kills us?”

“You’re so dramatic.” Adora had to laugh a little, and felt her chest warm. Then something caught her eye. “Oh, you have a little peanut butter on your chin.”

“Here?” Catra wiped her face.

“No, the other side.”

Again, she missed.

“Here--” Adora reached over and used her thumb to wipe the peanut butter spot on the other girl’s chin. It was an innocent gesture, but as soon as she did it, Catra’s eyes widened.

And her own heart began beating just a  _ little _ faster.

“Sorry,” she cleared her throat and looked away, immediately shoving the rest of her snack in her mouth so she didn’t have to say anything else.  _ Personal space, _ she internally scolded herself.  _ Why did I do that… _

But before she had any time to sulk any further, she was being called out to again.

“Hey, you have something on your face too you know?”

“What? Where?” Adora asked as she wiped at the corners of her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Not there…” Catra raised her hand quickly and poked her in the middle of her forehead. “Here!” She pushed harder against her head, causing Adora to lean back some in her seat.

“Ugh! You’re so annoying!” She moved away from Catra’s finger. “Why are you like this?!”

Catra smirked. “Aww… I’m sorry… am I bothering you? I hadn’t realized that.”

Adora stood up from her chair to throw her trash away. “I hate you.” There was not malice in her voice.

“Even I know that’s not true.” She stood too. “You love it.”

Hmph. Adora didn’t argue with that. The taste of fruit on her tongue and the ghost touch of Catra’s finger still lingered on her forehead when they went to go take their seats back. For another hour, the videos continued. 

Although Catra didn’t keep bugging her as badly as before, she linked their arms back together and let them watch together in silence. And though Catra may not have been outright distracting her this time around, her mind was still very much so preoccupied by her. The constant weight against her side and the way Catra rested her head on her shoulder was not helping her concentrate on these ridiculous safety videos at all…

“Catra?”

“Hm?”

“I think my arm is numb.”

She felt her tense before she moved away. “Oh, uh...sorry?”

Though they were no longer linking arms, Adora hooked her ankle over Catra’s as they sat back to watch the rest of the videos.  _ Maybe this isn’t so bad after all.  _ After all, they’ve always got each other, right?

Time always seemed to go by quicker when they were together and soon enough they were being dismissed back to their cabins to get ready for dinner. They stood from the bench simultaneously and immediately linked hands before exiting the mess hall with the rest of the campers.

They didn’t even notice that they were holding hands until they began to separate and head towards their individual cabins. Catra glanced down first at their interlaced digits, followed by Adora, who saw her friend snatch away her hand not even a second later.

They looked at each other.

_ What-- _

“I’ll catch up with you at dinner, okay?” Catra quickly blurted out before turning on her heel and stomping towards her cabin.

_ Was she blushing…? _

“Okay?! See you then?!” she called after her before heading towards the princess’s cabin.

Adora had been so caught up in her  _ situation _ with Catra that she hadn’t even noticed that Glimmer and Bow had been waiting for her.

_ Please tell me they didn’t just see that… _

She walked past them with her head hanging low in hopes that they wouldn’t bother her if she avoided direct eye contact. But of course that wouldn’t work because these two were apparently the world’s nosiest pair.

“You said Catra was  _ just _ your best friend, right?” Bow asked as he sped up to match Adora’s pace.

She sighed. It was going to be a very long dinner...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fan Art:  
> [Catradora Holding Hands](https://www.instagram.com/p/CBGhOY8J1YE/) by [liqour.ice](https://www.instagram.com/liqour.ice/) on Instagram
> 
> Follow Us!  
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	3. Photo Scavenger Hunt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! We are back with another update for this fic! 👀 We really hope you guys enjoy this one, since we had so much fun writing it! Also be sure sure to check out the Catra and Adora icons Lana (Peaches) drew [here](https://twitter.com/andPeachies/status/1279192201730199553) and the "beautiful" photo of Catra that Adora snapped in the chapter at the end too! 🤣🤣
> 
> -Jess

Adora failed to stifle a yawn as she walked along the dew-laden grass of the early morning towards her fellow cabin mates who were gathered around the flagpole. It’s not like she wasn’t a morning person, in fact her best friend constantly teased her for being ‘the world’s most annoying morning person,’ but now? When the sun had barely risen and she had a stomach full of Razz’s pancakes? She wanted to go back to bed.

She rubbed her face, trying to will herself into further consciousness, and continued along the short path. Coming from the other main path was the other group of campers, one of which was Catra. She looked as uninterested as usual while two people talked to her--well more like talking _at_ her--as they walked. But Adora was too focused on the way she perked up when she spotted her and how cute that bun piled onto her head looked on her to pay attention to anything else.

_Wow… it’s not often that she puts her hair up like that… but it’s just so darn cute!_

She felt her face flush and gave Catra a brief wave before turning her attention elsewhere and joining her own group.

“Good morning everyone,” Angella greeted them in her usual relaxed, yet cheerful, demeanor. “Are you ready to learn what you’ll be doing today?”

Looking like she’d woke up about thirty seconds ago, Glimmer made a groaning noise in the back of her throat. “We _just_ got done with breakfast. Can we not have had like half an hour before having to put our uniforms on?”

Bow ignored his friend and cheered, “Nature. Scavenger. Hunt!!” In between claps.

Nature scavenger hunt? That sounded like it could be really fun, getting down in the dirt. But something on Glimmer’s face made Adora think that it wasn’t necessarily as fun as she was thinking.

“What’s so bad about a scavenger hunt?” she asked.

“It’s not that the scavenger hunt isn’t fun...” Glimmer watched as her mom, the counselor, opened up several large lidded bins that had been sitting underneath the flagpole. “But mom gets _way_ too into it. Just wait until she pulls the list out...”

“The List” sounded very intimidating. Adora knew the second it was pulled out of the bin; it was actually a stack of laminated papers, each of which she handed out to the campers. When one came to Adora, she couldn’t help but be just a little confused.

 _An animal den? A bird nest? A_ fir tree??

“Glimmer, how can we take these back to the camp?” Adora leaned over to the other girl, muttering in confusion. “What kind of scavenger hunt is this?”

Her question, luckily, was immediately answered. After the lists were passed out, Angella pulled half a dozen of clunky polaroid cameras from the bins. They looked like they’d been touched by a hundred teenagers before then.

Angella explained, “It’s time for one of my favorite camp activities: photography nature scavenger hunt! Each of you have received a list that has all the possible things that you can find as you explore the campgrounds by yourselves today. Whoever finds the most objects on this list, proven with a photo, wins the chance to pick the movie for movie night tonight, as well as chose dinner!” Everyone seemed to perk up at the mention of the prize. “But only after the photos have been verified by myself and Ms. Weaver.”

The group groaned.

Angella almost rolled her eyes before continuing. “Well, I guess you all wouldn’t be interested in the fact that you can pick your own partner for this activity then, would you?” Adora looked at Glimmer and Bow. “From either cabin…” Her eyes immediately jumped to Catra who was already staring back at her. “If there are no further questions you are fre--” And she was gone.

Adora practically lept from Glimmer and Bow’s sides and beelined it straight towards her friend with a wide smile plastered on her face.

“What’s up, nerd?”

She smiled, biting the tip of her tongue in between her teeth. “Want to be my partner for this scavenger hunt?”

“Is that even a question?”

“I mean I just asked you, so…”

“Adora.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes, I’ll be your partner for this stupid nature photo op thing.” 

She clapped her hands together over her chest. “Yay! We can actually spend a day together!”

Catra smirked, something in her eyes shining a bit. “How could I say no to a girl that practically ran over here as soon as she could find little ol’ me.”

Adora gave her a little nudge. “Get over yourself.” _Why did this make her so happy?_

They laughed for a minute together and decided to sit on the grass and go over the list before heading out. It was all pretty straightforward, and their counselors had given them guides to plants and animals--so it shouldn’t be hard. The one thing Adora was a little concerned about was the fact that their lesson on compass reading was a little short.

What if they got totally lost in the woods?

“What’s ‘scat’?” Catra asked, still reading the list while Adora flipped through settings on her camera.

Adora snorted. “It’s poop. We have to take a picture of animal poop.” She held up the camera and snapped a picture of her best friend looking disgusted. “There-- One down, 24 more to go.”

Catra squinted from the flash. “Wait, are you implying that I look like shit?”

Adora cackled.

This is going to be a hilarious day, she just knew.

* * *

Stupid. Everything about this day is stupid. This photo scavenger hunt, including the supplies they were given for it that seemed to come straight from the eighties, the itchy uniform she was required to wear daily, Adora’s little hair poof, the way her heart seemed to flutter when she smiled at her.... It was all stupid.

They had chosen to take a separate path on the other side of camp, away from the other campers as their first option to start seeking out additional items on their list. This trail led around the eastern part of camp and back deeper into the woods behind it. There, the trees were tall and rattled in the slight morning breeze.

Everything smelled of plants, and there must have been a million birds outside right then. The tweeting made Catra slightly more on edge than she might’ve been.

“Adoraaaaaaa I already hate this.” She threw her head back dramatically and peeped over at her friend to judge her reaction. “And the bugs are already sooooooo irritating.”

“Not my fault that you almost set the camp on fire and can no longer be trusted with bug spray.”

“I already told you, and everyone in the camp, that I was sorry, okay?!”

“And it makes me so happy that you’re acting so _mature_ about it now.” She smirked.

“Shut up!” Catra playfully shoved her.

Adora giggled and stuck her tongue out, making the other girl’s heart do somersaults. “Never.” 

After a lull in conversation, she dug out the plant identification pocket guide from her cargo shorts that Angella had handed out before they left. “Anyway...let's see if we can actually find something on our list…”

They took a break on a boulder to flip through the book and match pictures with what was on their list. Unfortunately, to Catra, all of the plants looked identical. They were all _plants_. She was glad that Adora was enjoying herself, because she was going to die of boredom.

At least they were together, right?

“This one has red berries,” Adora pointed. “Maybe we can just look for plants that have berries? They’re edible, too.”

 _So boring_. But Catra agreed, nonetheless, and followed her best friend as she continued to march along the trail. Adora’s ponytail swung back and forth as she walked, mesmerizing, so she chose to focus on that instead of actually looking for the plant. But that turned out to be a bad idea as memories of when she used to run her hands through those golden locks flooded her mind.

Now that they were older, Catra never wanted to make things _weird_ , but as kids they used to play with each other's hair all the time. She was always captivated by how soft and smooth Adora’s hair was compared to her own thick curls. It would be so easy for her to reach out and run her hands through that stupid ponytail of hers...but instead she she reached out and gave it a yank.

“Hey!” Adora yelped as she stumbled backwards and tried to prevent herself from falling.

“What?”

“What do you mean _what_?” She glared at her. “I almost just tripped because of that!”

Catra brushed past her. “Seems like you need to watch where you’re going then, princess.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

She shrugged and directed her gaze elsewhere. “Hey, isn’t that one of the plants on our list?”

_Not that I would know, but hopefully she falls for it._

Adora took the bait.

“Oh, you’re right! It has the same berries as the one in the diagram!” She made a happy noise and dropped down onto her knees in the dirt, holding a sprig of the plant. “This is definitely it! You’ve got a good eye, Catra, even if you’re a pain in the butt.”

 _Damn it_. She didn’t want Adora to get the wrong idea and think she’s actually trying. Rolling her eyes, Catra sat down next to her best friend and watched as she popped some berries into her mouth.

“They’re not too good,” Adora filled the palm of her hand. “But do you want to try?” When she offered the hand out to Catra--something stopped her heart.

How was it that one person was so...adorable? There was a little red stain at the corner of Adora’s mouth from the berries, her blue eyes sparkling bright. Without even thinking, Catra pulled the camera up and snapped a picture. When she pulled away from the camera she was met with Adora’s goofy smile.

“Did you just take a picture of me?”

“Well, you took one of me earlier! Plus, it’s a picture of you holding the berries… so it actually counts.”

“Whatever you have to tell yourself Catra.” She stood from the dirt.

“You’re insufferable.”

“That makes two of us then.”

They continued down the path. Neither of them seemed to have a very good sense of distance, so they weren’t sure how far they were wandering away from camp, but they must've been getting pretty deep into the woods because the trail began to thin, and the woods around them became denser.

“Hmm...let’s see...what’s next on the list?” Adora tapped a pencil against her lips as her eyes scanned the list. “We could try to find an animal?”

“...Yeah because finding a wild animal that could potentially kill us sounds like a great idea.”

“There’s nothing on this list that could kill us. Stop being so dramatic and help me find something.”

“I just want to go back to camp.”

“Catra.”

“Ugh, fine. Pick something, then. I guess I’ll help you find it.”

There were a number of animals on their list that she really didn’t want to have to look for, but unluckily for her, Adora ended up picking the _worst_ on that list.

Adora stopped to smooth out her hair bump. “Okay, so according to our book, the blackneck garter snake is really common around this area. It shouldn’t be hard to find one!”

 _A blackneck...wait._ Catra did a double-take at her friend and tried not to act too horrified. “A _snake_?? Like an actual snake??”

“They’re harmless.” Adora stepped off the trail and began peeking her head around trees and moved foliage around with her foot. “You only have to take a picture of it, not stuff it in your shirt. Don’t be a baby.”

“ _Euughhh_.”

Catra knew this summer camp thing wasn’t going to be fun, but this?? How cruel can the universe be to put her _in the middle of the woods_ searching for a _snake_? What if she gets bit? It would be good dirt to have on Adora since it’d be her fault, but not ideal in the slightest.

For just a second, an image popped up into her head of her sitting on a stool while Adora was wrapping her hand with a bandage. Looking way too cute for her own good, like a blonde angel coming to heal her.

So dumb, she told herself. Stupid. _But what if..._

“Oh shh.” Adora put her hand up, interrupting the other’s girl’s train of thought. She’d frozen. “That might be it. Get the camera!”

Catra’s fantasies of getting bit vanished _immediately_. She tried not to show exactly how unenthusiastic she was to see a real snake. “You have the camera, remember?”

“Shoot, you’re right.” Luckily, Adora obliged. She held her camera up to her eyes, turned the zoom dial and snapped. Then looked at the picture. “Hm... It’s kinda hard to see. Hold on.” She took another.

 _Why did it have to be a snake? Creepy, gross snake._ She groaned up to the sky again as Adora continued to fiddle with the camera.

“Ugh. Come on Adora it doesn’t have to be a crystal clear photo!” She turned her focus back down. _Wait...is that snake getting closer?_ “Uh, Adora?”

“Hold on Catra! Just be patient for once!” she grumbled into the camera.

Catra inched closer to her. “But…”

“It’ll only just be a second.”

The snake continued towards them.

Her mouth went dry. “Adora...”

“What?!” She finally tore her focus away from the camera and looked up at her with a burning gaze.

Catra pointed with a shaky hand to the snake that was now less than ten feet away from them and Adora’s gazed followed.

“Oh…yeah that might be an issue...”

It was just the two of them looking back at the snake who was looking at them. All three were frozen. How they managed to find themselves in a stand-off with a snake was beyond Catra, by right now the only thing that mattered to her was not getting bitten.

Suddenly, the snake rushed forward and Catra felt herself act before she could even think. She pounced on Adora’s back, knocking the wind out of her in the process, and they both fell to the forest floor. She heard her best friend gasping underneath her as she watched the snake slither away under some nearby leaves.

_That sneaky son of a--_

“Catra?” Adora coughed. “Can you get off of me please?”

She looked down and immediately locked eyes with her. Even though Adora was absolutely filthy and covered in dirt and other forest floor debris, she was somehow even more beautiful then she had been this morning. Maybe it was the soft light filtering in through the tree's canopy, or maybe it was the way that Catra seemed to get lost in her ocean eyes everytime she looked directly at her… it was just something about this moment that drew her in closer until--

Adora started coughing again.

“Please, I literally can’t breathe.” She weakly beat against Catra’s side.

“Oh, right! Sorry!”

Catra scrambled off of her as quickly as she could and brushed the dirt from her clothes as her _friend_ did the same and caught her breath. 

“So, uh… what’s next on the list?” She looked anywhere but at Adora.

“We can go see if we can find anything interesting by the stream next?”

_God, first a snake and now water? This oughta be fun…_

“Okay, fine…”

“Awesome! It should be close by.” She opened up a map in the journal. “Just a little farther…”

Adora began to walk off and Catra trailed behind.

* * *

The day was getting a little hotter as the sun reached the perfect angle to blind them. She pulled out a rolled cap from the side of her backpack and stuck it on, putting her ponytail through the strap in the back. It offered at least a bit of shade.

“So...” Catra kicked a rock off the path they were walking on and jogged for a second to get beside her. “Your new friends, huh?”

“Hm?”

“The two annoying ones. With the weird names.”

“Glimmer and Bow?” She snorted a little, noticing Catra’s expression shift a little bit when she blinked over at her. “Yeah they’re pretty cool once you get to know them. They’re really not _that_ annoying.”

“You seem pretty close to them already.”

“Jealous?” She laughed again, but stopped when she noticed her friend’s expression change just a little. “I’m sorry, you’re fun to tease. It’s not my fault we’re not in the same cabin.” When her friend continued making the face, she bumped their shoulders together. “I’d rather be together any day.”

For some reason she didn’t understand, Adora thought back to a few minutes ago when Catra had accidentally tackled her to the ground. Why had that made her nervous? Probably just the wind being knocked out of her… and definitely not the intense look Catra had given her in that moment, or the fact that Adora swore that she leaned in… she was just delirious from not being able to breathe, right?

They walked for another minute, footsteps crunching on the twigs and leaves. Then Catra let out a sigh.

“I’m glad you have friends here,” she said reluctantly. “If I can’t bug you 24/7 at least someone can.”

The sentiment was oddly sweet. Maybe she was still a little winded from being knocked to the ground, but it was suddenly just a _little_ harder to breathe again.

As they walked on, the sound of a gurgling stream met up with them. The trail followed the noise and eventually crossed paths under a grove of beautiful leafy trees. It wasn’t particularly deep nor wide, but ran swiftly through the undergrowth.

“Maybe there’s something we can take a picture of here...” She hummed lightly to herself, stepping off the path and pacing around the edge of the brook. Scanning through the water...holding her scavenger hunt list up to her nose…she heard Catra snickering behind her. “What?”

She had a huge smile on her face. “Oh, nothing… just you’re cute when you’re in super nerd mode.”

Adora felt her cheeks warm and she looked away. “Lets just take a picture of these minnows…”

 _Catra is such a goofball._ She carefully slipped her shoes off and toed her socks off with them before wading into the water. The cold shocked her for a moment before getting used to it; it felt really nice after sweating in the sun during the hike.

Off near an eddy a few feet away, a small school of minnows circled the rocks, darting in and out of the bubbles. Although they were just fish, Adora thought they were kind of cute. So small. She turned her camera back on and stepped around to get a good angle, water swishing around her ankles.

She readied her camera, but when she looked through the lens the reflection coming off the water created a horrible glare that blocked out any of the visible fish. _Why did this just become a hundred times more difficult? If only I had something to block out the sun…_ A plan formed in her mind and she looked over her shoulder to the girl still standing by the brook’s edge.

Catra quirked a brow at her. “Yes?”

“Hey, so can you come over here and help me block out the sun for a minute?”

“You want me to get in the water? Not a chance.”

“Come on Catra! It’s not even deep and I’ll be here the whole time.” She put on her best pleading face. “Please? For me?”

“Son of a bitch. Fine.” She angrily tore off her boots and socks.

Adora met her at the brook’s edge and offered a hand to help her get in, which Catra took right away, before they both waded back over to where she had been moments ago

“Okay, now what do you want me to do? This water is _freezing_ by the way!”

“Stand riiight…” She grabbed onto Catra’s shoulders to position her, “here. Perfect! Now let me just...” Adora was interrupted by a splash of water hitting her face. “Hey!”

“What? I didn’t do anything.”

“Catra, you could’ve ruined the camera!”

“Good. That thing belongs in the trash anyway.” Catra dipped back down, gathering water in her hands, and splashed her again.

“Oh, so you want to play dirty, huh?” Adora pocketed the camera and lowered her hands towards the water. _Might as well have fun if her friend was going to be a jerk._ She sent a wave of water hurtling her way.

“Adora!” Catra squeaked as she was hit. “Oh, you’re so going to pay for that!”

And that’s how it started.

The two of them carelessly splashing each other back and forth, paying no mind to the world around them or how soaked their clothes were getting, that was a problem for future Catra and Adora.

“You’re getting my shirt all wet.” Catra kicked a wall of water over, nearly slipping on the rocks at the stream bed. “If I catch a cold I’m going to kill you.”

“It’s just a little water. It’s not going to hurt you.”

“Well--” Suddenly, a rock shifted underneath Catra’s foot and she stumbled sideway. She half-fell into Adora’s chest, nearly making them both fall over. _Again._ For just a second they struggled not to fall over, but Catra and her madly red face had different plans.

Catra immediately corrected herself and shoved Adora so hard she fell straight into the stream.

“Watch your step,” Catra stuttered, breathing weirdly uneven. Her shirt was still drenched, but staring down at her friend on her butt in the water made her face split into a grin. “Idiot.”

“Hey, _you_ fell into _me._ ”

They both laughed together, frozen from the rushing stream, until Catra slipped and fell in, too.

“Woah, woah, woah! Are you okay?!”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she smiled at her again. “Like you said, it isn’t that deep.”

They laid there in the cooling current of the brook, enjoying the serene setting around them, until a horrible realization ripped through Adora.

“Catra?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m pretty sure the camera is broken.”

“Shit.” She sat up in the water. “Adora I cannot sit through three hours of behavioral safety video again!”

“It’s fine! I’ll take the blame for it.”

“What?”

“Angella seems more understanding of these kinds of things anyway, so it’s fine.” She stood taking only a second to pull out the busted camera.

Catra followed, wringing out the bottom of her shirt. “It’s not fine that you’re taking the fall for something that you didn’t do!”

“I swear, it’ll be okay Catra.” Now feeling gross as her wet clothes stuck to her skin, she made the executive decision to remove her uniform shirt in one go, revealing her dark gray tank underneath. She wrung it out in her hands and tried to ignore Catra’s searing gaze on her. “If you want to dry off quicker, I suggest you do the same.”

For some reason, Catra didn’t even wait for Adora to finish that sentence before she began trying to peel the outer layers of her top off. She had tried taking it off in one fluid movement but just ended up getting it stuck at her elbows.

“God...damn it...” She was clearly getting frantic, knowing she looked dumb and hearing her friend start laughing at her.

She was always telling Adora how much of a dork she was, but this was the funniest thing. And underneath Catra’s shirt was just a sports bra exposing her bare stomach. She nearly looked like a trapped animal, trying to free herself from the wet shirt.

“Catra...” Adora was nearly out of breath laughing so hard. Her face was burning, probably from the laughter. She had to look away.

“Don’t you dare say anything! Let’s just start heading back to camp…”

Adora watched as she got out of the water and began to slip her socks back on. She tried to ignore the way beads of water rolled down Catra’s exposed back and the way that her shorts clung to her hips when she twisted down to retie her boots. She shook her head in attempts to clear her head of thoughts she didn’t quite understand and joined Catra to put her own shoes on.

Once they both had their shoes and socks back on the girls headed back towards the original trail that they had ventured from earlier. Adora pulled out her pocket guide just to double check that this path was in fact the same one, ‘ _you can never be too careful_ ’ she always reminded herself, as Catra curiously peeked over her shoulder.

She poked at the map. “Why don’t we take this trail here? Looks like it would be a shortcut.”

“Hm, I think we should stick with this same trail…”

“Come on _Adora_ , it would be fun!”

She scrunched up her face. “But if we just follow this one back…”

“But if we just follow this one blah blah blah…” She mocked. “Let’s go…”

Without any further hesitation Catra snagged Adora’s wrist and began pulling her towards the new trail and she prayed that they would get back soon.

...

…

Not even five minutes later they were lost.

How did they end up here? Well, to be fair, it was Catra’s fault. At least that’s what Adora kept telling herself. She blamed it on the fact that her best friend kept pestering her the whole short walk along the trail… Catra did know every button to push and how to effectively get under her skin. But in all honesty, Adora should be blaming herself for allowing them to get distracted enough to not realize what was happening.

“Catra, I think we’re lost…”

“Phst. No, we’re not.” She took the trail guide from her best friend’s hand and shoved it into her back pocket before stomping up to the nearest tree. “Wind only blows onto the west side of the trees, so clearly we’re heading back to camp.”

“That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“What, are you an expert on wind?”

Adora, fumbling and feeling frustrated, huffed for a second before yanking her guide back. “ _No_ , but you aren’t either. Can we please just go back the way we came?”

To no surprise at all, Catra just kept going. She had her hands on her hips and had a ridiculous swagger to her walk. It was obviously feigned. If she’d been paying attention at all in the wilderness lesson they got before the activity, she’d realize that the sun was lowering on the wrong side of the sky, meaning they were most likely heading _away_ from camp.

Maybe. Adora squinted up at the sky, trying to remember.

They continued.

The further they walked, the more unsettled Adora became. Nothing around them looked familiar anymore and the trail that they had been following had narrowed to the point where they could only walk in a line and not side by side anymore. She also couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched… It didn’t help that the way the wind blew through the trees made it seem like someone was whispering in her ear. Maybe this forest really was alive.

“Catra…?” Adora called to her from behind. “I seriously think--”

“Adora. For the thousandth time. We are not lost!” She looked around her. “How about I climb that tree to see how far we are away from camp. Would that make you feel better?”

She thought for a moment. _We only have basic medical supplies with us… so if Catra falls there isn’t really much we could do about a broken bone… but it would be helpful and reassuring to know our relative location… she could also get stuck though… but we seriously need to know where we are..._

Adora clicked her tongue. “Actually, yes. That would make me feel better.”

Catra rolled her eyes and walked over to the tallest tree near them. “Fine, princess. Give me a boost at least.” She grabbed onto a low branch with her left hand and hiked up her right leg in anticipation.

“So demanding…” She teased through a smile as she walked over to the tree.

Adora settled into a squat, back against the tree, and laced her fingers in front of her in a makeshift hold position for Catra’s foot. She gave a little push upward when Catra stepped into the hold, successfully helping her up into the tree branches, and sending Adora’s stress levels skyrocketing as she watched her friend begin her ascent towards the top of the tree.

She bit her lip. “Just please try not to fall!”

“Yeah, because I would totally try to fall on purpose.”

“You know what I meant!”

“Aw, are you worried about me? How embarrassing.” Adora could hear her sweet giggle clear as day from below the tree even though she could no longer see her.

“Can you see anything?”

“No?” She shouted. “Wait, I think maybe I can see the flag pole? No wait I think that’s just a bare tree… hmm yeah, no, I can’t see jack shit from up here. This was a terrible idea.” 

Adora heard some rustling and soft curses coming from the tree before Catra appeared back into view on the lower branches. Then she froze. Her brows were furrowed and lips were puckered in an expression of extreme concentration or thought. Adora had only ever seen her look this intense when she was contemplating how to explain something… or ask for help.

Adora quirked a brow. “You okay?”

“Who me? I’m fine.” She didn’t move.

“You sure? Because it looks like you’re stuck.”

“I’m not stuck! You’re stuck!”

“Catra, that doesn’t even make any sense.”

“Okay, fine! I might… need…” Her voice dropped to below a whisper.

“What?”

“I said, I might need a little....” It happened again.

“Catra.”

“Imightneedalittlehelp.” She rushed out all at once.

Adora smiled. “See, was that so hard to ask?”

Catra glared at her. “Just get me down from here.”

She approached the tree to get a better view to assess the situation. “So, I think if you just try to come back down like how you went up that would be good? Like, face the tree and lower her leg so I can give you a hold again to help you?”

“What is it with you trying to repeat your steps? ‘Go back the way we came’ and ‘come back down like how you went up.’” She mocked.

Adora put her hands on her hips. “Hm, well maybe you should listen to me this time instead of arguing?”

Catra visibly sighed as she turned around to face the tree and began to slowly lower her right leg down once she had a sturdy hold on the tree branch again. Because of the angle this time Adora had to reach up to grab her foot to steady her as she began to lower the rest of her body. Everything was going smoothly, as it had before, until Catra began to slip. Adora only had a split second to decide the best course of action to prevent this from ending in a catastrophe.

Her hand immediately flew to Catra’s hip, where the band of her shorts met the skin of her waist, and Adora’s face immediately flushed. She held her position, frozen as she heard more rustling of leaves coming from their left.

There wasn’t anything she could do; if she dropped her arms, they’d both fall onto the ground from too high up and would probably break something. If it was a wild animal, they were screwed.

“Don’t move,” Adora whispered, gripping the other girl so tight she might leave bruises.

“I can’t, obviously,” Catra hissed back.

Leaves rustled some more, followed by a familiar noise. Maybe not an animal? The familiar noises turned into voices, which turned into Glimmer and Bow.

They broke from the wall of leaves and brush to find Catra half-falling from a tree and Adora awkwardly using her hands to brace the descent. They had their uniform tops tied around their waists, and their clothes were stiff from being sun-dried. It must have been an interesting sight.

Glimmer and Bow paused when they saw the other two.

“Uhh.” Bow pursed his lips, looking back and forth from the girls. “How’s the scavenger hunt going?”

“The what?” Catra lowered herself another inch. “Oh, right. Yeah that sucked.”

“How did you guys make it out so far? Are Angella and Ms Weaver looking for us?” Adora asked. She had managed to lower her friend down the rest of the way and had to straighten her ponytail. “Do you have a better map?”

Yeah, they definitely looked ridiculous.

“Map?” Glimmer’s nose wrinkled like she was confused. “Are you...” Then she snorted. “Are you lost?? Do you guys not actually know where you are?”

Catra immediately bristled, forgetting she had asked for help just a minute ago. “No, _Sparkles,_ we aren’t lost. I know exactly where--”

“You’re totally lost.” It looked physically painful for Bow to restrain his laughter. He took in their raggedy hair and mud-stained clothes, while his own camp uniform was virtually spotless. “It’s a ten-minute walk to camp from this trail. You’re literally ten minutes away.”

_Ten...minutes?_

Adora glanced at Catra, who was smirking. Big time.

“Guess who was right about the trail?” Catra jabbed her elbow into the other girl’s side, snickering. “Say it. Say I was right. We were heading in the right direction after all.”

“I’m not--”

“Say it, dork.”

“We were _totally lost,_ Catra.” The relief of not being completely lost in the forest made Adora end up laughing. They weren’t going to be eaten by wild animals after all. The snake really _was_ the least of their worries. “I’m never letting you be in charge of directions again.”

They laughed together for a minute, wrestling and trying to rub knuckles into one another’s hair. Meanwhile, the other two just watched wordlessly.

Eventually, they got bored. Catra and Adora made sure they had everything on them before following the others back down the trail in the way that they’d been going before. The trail ended up widening soon so they could walk side-by-side again, which was a relief after the deeper forest they’d been in.

Voices of the other campers greeted them before the actual camp was in sight. When the four of them got to the trailhead, it was clear everyone else had already made it back. The pairs that had originally split off were then sitting on the grass around the bonfire area, flipping through their photos together and talking amongst one another.

 _They all probably got some good pictures…_ Adora thought as she pulled their own camera out one of the pockets of her cargo shorts and looked over at Catra. “Well, I guess we should tell them what happened? Maybe they can still get the pictures off the memory card...”

Catra held a neutral expression. “Seriously, Adora you don’t have to take the blame for this.”

“It’s fine. And it was kind of my fault anyway.” She smiled. “Plus I think I had a better time goofing off than actually doing the scavenger hunt…”

She smiled back. “Of course you did. Because I’m amazing.”

 _You are._ They walked past the other campers and towards Angella, who was already sorting photos that had been printed out somehow. Even though they weren’t close enough yet to hear, she’d laugh every so often at the pictures.

Ms Weaver, on the other side of the bit of grass, looked through her own camper’s photos. The only expression she was showing was the occasional twitch of her eyebrow. _That cabin must be miserable,_ Adora thought to herself. No wonder Catra was so happy to see her every day there.

Coming up to the other campers, everyone seemed to turn their eyes towards them because they were the last ones… and probably because they still looked disgusting.

“Oh wonderful,” Angella said, standing from her seat on the grass and setting the photos to the side. “Hopefully you’ve found some wonderful things to take pictures of on the trail! May I take your camera?” She finally looked directly at them. “My goodness girls! Are you two alright?”

A pause. Adora and Catra made quick eye contact with one another before Adora spoke up with the camera extended in her hand.

“I’m sorry, Angella,” she said sheepishly. “We’re fine, but we kinda got some water on it by accident and I don’t think it works anymore...”

“Love, don’t worry about the camera, we can pull the memory card from it anyway… are you two genuinely okay? I’ve never seen two campers return in this state…” she vaguely gestured to their attire, “...ever in all my years working here.”

Covered in mud, shirts tied around their waists, hair in an absolute mess. Catra even had a little tear in her uniform shorts from getting caught on a branch when she was trying to climb down from the tree.

Catra stepped forward and surprised both of them. “We’re fine Mrs. Angella.” She smiled and draped her right arm across Adora’s shoulders. “She made sure that we were okay. I should just try to listen to her more… and we might need showers.”

They all shared a laugh.

“Ah, yes. Very well, I’ll get your photos to you shortly if you two want to tidy up before the winners are announced. It’s looking to be a very close competition this year!”

Adora smiled, “I’m sure it will be. We’ll be right back!”

And with that Catra and Adora headed to their cabins to gather their shower supplies before washing off the day’s grime gathered from their shenanigans.

* * *

By the time they got out of the showers, the sun was already on the horizon and the golden light bathed the other campers in an orange glow. Everyone was gathered around in a semicircle, a little more uniform than when they had left to go shower, and Angella and Weaver were at the forefront. Adora and Catra quickly joined them just before the announcements were made. 

It looked like while they’d been showering, Angella had gone back to her office to salvage the pictures from the camera’s memory card. She was holding their meager stack of polaroids. While the other campers looked to have 20-30, they had taken a fraction of that.

She smiled at them as the pair approached and handed them the photos they’d taken.

“You two a certainly look much better now. I do have to say that your photos however were… interesting to say the least.” Angella held out the measly stack of photos for them to take.

Catra snagged the polaroids from Angella’s hands before Adora could, sticking out her tongue in victory, before she began to shuffle through them in her hands. Adora attempted to reach for the photos, but Catra managed to keep her back turned to her the entire time.

“Ugh, let me see them!” She complained as she grabbed onto Catra’s left shoulder from behind and tried to reach for the pictures with her right hand.

Catra dodged the grab. “Not until I’m done!”

“That’s not fair!”

“Too bad you’re so slow then.” She laughed and continued to do so as Adora kept trying to reach for the polaroids in any way possible.

Catra would’ve kept laughing if it wasn’t for what her eyes landed on next. It was that picture she had taken of Adora this afternoon. With her stupid little ponytail, berries staining her lips, caught off guard from the sudden capture… a photo that was completely _Adora._

 _Wow._ Was the only thing that came to Catra’s mind in that moment before she quickly stuffed that polaroid into one of her pockets and then finally faced Adora as she tried to fight off the blush quickly rising on her cheeks.

“Fine. Here. Look at them.” She shoved the photos to her friend’s chest. “They’re not that exciting anyway.”

“Rude much?”

Catra watched as Adora looked through the remaining photos with a neutral expression until she got to the one that she had taken of Catra from this morning while they were still sorting through the scavenger hunt supplies they had just received. She smiled at the photo before glancing up at her.

“This is a good picture by the way. You look… cute.”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever.” That compliment definitely wasn’t helping with her fight against her blush.

“Good thing we get to keep these.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, weren't you paying attention when she told us that this morning?”

“Obviously not.”

“Did you want to keep any of these? If not, I will.”

“Nah, go ahead and keep them.”

She shrugged. “Okay.”

They turned their focus back to the two counselors when the crowd around them began to quiet down.

“Now if we’re ready to begin,” Angella raised her voice, “...as usual we had many good photos this season. At least for those of you that took this competition seriously…” She glanced at them. “Anyway, there was only one duo that excelled above the rest. Bow and Glimmer managed to take pictures of every single item on their list.”

“Yes!” Glimmer shot up in the air and threw her arms around Bow. “You know what this means!!”

Bow spun her in a circle. “Movie night!!”

 _Jeez_ , Catra thought. They must be used to winning this. Was it fair that they’ve done this so many years in a row? Could that be considered cheating? She glanced over at Adora to see her reaction, and wasn’t disappointed.

 _God, she’s cute_. Adora was just smiling, her tongue sticking out between her teeth. Stupid.

After the cheering quieted down again, Angella laughed and rolled her eyes a bit at the winners. “As you already know, the winners get to pick what we eat for dinner as well as the movie to watch afterwards.”

Ms Weaver took over in her usual frighteningly-low tone. “If you haven’t turned your cameras back in already, do it now. There is time before dinner to wash up. Don’t be late.”

The question again rose in the back of Catra’s head: how on earth did a creepy lady like that ever become a summer camp counselor? Whoever hired her needed to be arrested.

“Come on.” Adora stood from their spot in the grass and held her hand out to Catra to help her up. “Let’s steal that spot by the window in the mess hall!”

She accepted, and without even realizing, they were walking hand-in-hand to the dinner building. _So this is a thing now? Holding hands?_ Catra didn’t mind. She just hoped that her hands weren’t too sweaty from being nervous. 

When they got into the building, they both got their snacks and settled into their seats. If Catra was going to be forced to sit through whatever shitty movie Arrow Boy and Sparkles had picked out she was going to do it with a mouth full of sour gummy worms and chips.

… 

It wasn’t long until the other campers started filling into the mess hall. Most of them had changed into their pajamas, or at least were out of uniform, and they began picking up their food for the night. Everyone quickly found their seats, sitting with friends that they had made during their short time here, and Angella had even brought out some bean bag chairs from who knows where… anyway, after everyone was comfy the lights were switched off and the film began to play.

Catra was expecting some cheesy overdone teen romance movie to have been picked, but to her surprise, it was a film that she had seen many times, one that kept her friend up nights after their first time watching it… a popular scary thriller that had an eerily similar setting to the camp that they were currently in.

She felt Adora tense near her as the opening scene played out. “You gonna be okay for this princess?”

“Oh, yeah… I’ll be fine! We’ve seen this movie so many times it isn’t even _that_ scary anymore…”

Catra felt her shift a little closer and smirked. “If you say so…”

They weren’t far into the movie before Adora was practically glued to her side. Every jump scare, tense scene, gory moment, got a reaction out of her and Catra was _living_. Not only was she thoroughly amused that this movie still pulled these kinds of reactions out of her friend, but she was delighted to have Adora snuggled up to her like this; face practically buried into her side, hands clutching at the fabric there as she peeped through one eye to continue watching the movie. 

The only thing wrong with the moment was the fact that Catra was all out of snacks. She looked down to Adora’s lap where her trail mix lay barely touched. Her eyes flicker back and forth between Adora’s face and the snack a few times before she reached out a hand that was quickly batted away.

Adora rose from her position. “I’m not going to let you eat all the M&Ms out of my trail mix again,” she pointed a finger at her, “not after last time!”

Catra rolled her eyes, “I can’t believe you’re still mad about that.” She reached for the bag again, only for it to be pulled out of her reach this time.

“Adora.” She practically growled.

“ _Catra_ ,” Adora said back sweetly in a teasing tone.

She narrowed her eyes. “I swear if you don’t hand me that bag--”

“What are you gonna do to get it from me?”

Catra’s eyes widened and she felt her chest tighten. She definitely wasn’t expecting that type of comeback from Adora… she was thrown off but needed to figure out how to regain control of this situation and a way to get those M&Ms…

She continued to stare challengingly at a way too smug Adora as she thought. _Hmm… what is something I can do that will one, wipe that smirk off her beautiful face… and two, let me get a hold of that trail mix…_ She studied the girl in front of her and smiled as a plan began to form in her head.

Catra shifted in her seat so that she was fully facing Adora as she slowly began inching closer to her. She watched as Adora’s smug expression began to morph into something resembling confusion, then shock when she caught on to what was happening.

“Uh, Catra…?” Her voice sounded shaky.

“Hm?”

“What are you--” She was cut off by Catra placing a hand on her knee.

“Oh, Adora…” Catra was barely inches from her face now. “I told you what I wanted.” She leaned in further until she could see the mixed blue hues in the irises around her blown pupils. “And I always get what I want…” Catra surged forward so that she was close to her ear...the hitch in Adora’s breath not going unnoticed. “So, thank you for the trail mix.” She whispered before snatching the bag from the girl’s lap and pulling away with a wink.

“I… I uh… What just happened??”

“Haha!” Catra threw a handful of picked M&Ms into her mouth. “You should see your face right now.” Weird adrenaline was coursing through her. That kind of reaction is _exactly_ what she wanted. To make her speechless.

Since when was she brave enough to do those kinds of things?

Adora blinked her eyes a couple times before seemingly coming back into reality. “You’re such a goof! If you’re gonna steal my trail mix, at least let me eat the stuff you don’t.”

From the back of the room, Ms Weaver shushed them.

“Ugh, fine here.” She placed the bag between them and turned her attention back towards the tv screen.

The movie really wasn’t that scary, but ever since the trail mix incident...Adora was sitting closer to her. Eventually, as it grew later in the evening, she’d ended up resting her head on Catra’s shoulder. Maybe her tiredness outweighed her fear of the special effects?

Catra was too overwhelmed to move. She could pretend to be cocky all she wanted, but at the end of the day, having Adora snoring on her shoulder, holding onto her arm... And it should’ve been illegal to look so beautiful while sleeping.

This had become Catra’s favorite movie in the world.

* * *

Before they knew it, the movie was over and the lights were abruptly switched back on. Adora’s nap was rudely interrupted by her head sliding from Catra’s shoulder. _Why did she let me sleep?_ She wondered. Everyone who was still awake in the room seemed to groan in protest simultaneously to Weaver’s actions as she too stood in the front of the mess hall.

“Alright, that’s it. Movie’s over. Time for lights out,” she commanded.

Begrudgingly, all the campers helped clean up the spare chairs and beanbags. Even though they were half asleep, no one left before everything was complete. Only then did everyone leave the mess hall and head to their respective cabins.

Adora and Catra lazily followed behind the other campers and stopped outside the entrance of Catra’s cabin. Adora was about to go in for a hug before she noticed Catra’s eyes shift to something over her shoulder. She turned her head to see Glimmer and Bow waiting for her gave them a quick wave with a grin before turning her attention back to Catra.

“Today wasn’t _too_ bad, right?” she asked.

“Yeah, I guess it wasn’t too bad…” Catra yawned and rubbed at her eyes. “I kinda enjoyed spending the day with you too, even if you’re a complete idiot.”

“Hey!”

“No one said that was a bad thing.” Catra leaned forward and pressed her lips to cheek. It all seemed so natural, just a small kiss. “Goodnight... _Adora_ ,” she said smoothly before realizing what she did.

They both froze.

Catra was looking anywhere but directly at her, while a thousand thoughts filled Adora’s head. _Why did she do that? Was it on purpose? Maybe she’s just tired and it was an accident… but maybe it wasn’t. I don’t know what to do. Should I say something? It was kind of sweet..._

Should she ask her what that was about? All she could focus on was the lingering sensation of Catra’s lips to her cheek. She subconsciously raised a hand to the area and lightly brushed her fingertips over her cheek. Her daze was a mixture of pink-cheeked shock as well as drowsiness.

“Uh…” Catra finally began to squirm under the weight of her action. “Yeeaah... See you in the morning! Bye!” She bolted up the cabin steps and slammed the door behind her. Just before she had turned completely, Adora saw a wild grin on her face as bright as a cherry.

_Was she blushing? Catra doesn’t blush, does she?_

Adora continued to stand there dumbfounded, just as her friends rushed up behind her.

“Oh my god, what was that all about?!” Bow practically squealed. He was doing a weird dance with his feet.

Glimmer tugged at her arm. “She totally just kissed you on the cheek right now. Bow, can you believe that?!”

“No! And I wouldn’t if I hadn’t just seen it!”

“I know, right!?”

Adora tuned out her friend's conversation as a realization hit her like the bus that first brought them here.

“Guys.” The others stopped squealing when she lifted her head. A Mixture of excitement and terror smacked her right awake. “I think I _like_ Catra.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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	4. Bonfire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 😗 Well... we're back~ Sorry we took so long on this chapter... just life and scheduling conflicts have gotten in the way of us collabing frequently together, but we're back now! And we hope you like what we did with this chapter 💖
> 
> -Jess

As if life hadn’t already been confusing enough, Catra had to go and kiss Adora on the cheek.  _ Her  _ Adora. The one she’d had a crush on for years. How was she supposed to live after that?? There was only one way she knew how to address her feelings and that was to...not address them.

…

It’d been two days since Catra said a single word to Adora.

Two days over avoiding her during meal times, the showers, during activities, free time… Literally any place they could’ve run into each other, Catra would go out of her way to be somewhere she knew Adora wouldn’t be. In the back of her mind, she knew this was a bit of an overreaction, but there was no way in hell that she was addressing what happened after movie night.

_ God, why did I have to do that??  _ It was an accident. Kind of. Catra really didn’t mean to kiss Adora’s cheek, it just happened. She wouldn’t have panicked so badly afterwards if it wasn’t for that  _ look _ in Adora’s eye when she pulled away.

She was...blushing? She looked surprised, but...in a good way? Catra didn’t know how to interpret that. She wanted to read into it but couldn’t allow herself that; she’d had a crush on Adora for  _ years _ , and to only consider that now would’ve been selfish.

But Adora’s shocked smile afterwards... No. Best to avoid everything. That’s why she ran in the first place.

The morning was going pretty well as she stuck away from the other cabin. It was easy keeping her eyes to the ground and not talking to anyone. A few of the campers asked if she was doing alright, but it was easy to brush them off. Until Ms Weaver announced the morning activity that brought everyone to the center of camp.

She stood by the flagpole as she addressed them. “Children.”  _ Even her greeting is creepy.  _ “Luckily for you all we have a  _ fun _ activity planned for today.” The campers all glanced at each other. Nothing Weaver planned was ever  _ fun _ . “There is a partial eclipse happening soon and we will be observing it through sun-viewers that you will build… independently.”

At least Catra had an excuse not to interact with anyone during this.

“So before we waste anymore time just sitting here…” she continued, “come up and grab your instructions and supplies and get started.”

Catra rolled her eyes and got up from her spot on the grass and waited behind other campers to get her stuff. She was handed an empty box, aluminum foil, tape, and several sheets of paper before she was given a box cutter… or rather, hesitantly handed one after a few tense seconds of her counselor not letting go.

Weaver glared down at her. “I expect this back Catra.”

It was hard biting back a rude response, but all Catra did was purse her lips and snatch the materials to her chest. She walked away from the group, as far as she could without the possibility of getting scolded, and threw her supplies on the ground before plopping herself down beside them.

Catra sorted through the papers that she had been given to find the instructions that Weaver had previously mentioned.  _ This is stupid _ . The weather was hot and sunny, of course, and even with the sun to her back she was miserable.

The task might’ve been a good distraction if it wasn’t for her inability to focus. All she could think about was Adora’s face when she’d kissed her cheek. It was behind her eyelids every time she blinked, and it was making her hands shake.  _ Why did I do that?? _ Even two days after it happened, it continued to plague her.

She secured the cardboard box in her lap, sandwiching it between her thighs and cut about a one inch little hole into the upwards side. She then turned the box to cut a three inch long rectangle into the side furthest from the hole that she had just cut in the opposite end. Every step of the instructions she followed, she grew more agitated. ‘

All she wanted to do was sit inside her cabin and mope, instead of being forced to do this silly activity that was clearly made for kids.

Catra practically ripped open the top of the box to gain access to the inside, and sloppily taped a piece of plain white paper on the side opposite of the one that had the small hold in it and slammed it shut again. The last thing she had to do was stick the piece of foil onto the hole that she first cut and then she would finally be done.

Just in time too because the next thing she heard was Angella calling for the other cabin to quickly join her as the eclipse was about to begin. The only notice from Weaver that they got was a nod of acknowledgement and a wave of hand to signal that they should probably mimic what the other cabin was doing. Useless as always, in Catra’s opinion.

Catra continued to follow the instructions that she had been given and pointed the foil side of the box at the sun and looked into the hole at the side to see if she could spot anything. She was actually feeling kind of excited? Or more so feeding off the excitement of the other campers around her who were oohing and aahing at what they saw. But when Catra looked into her box? She didn’t see anything.

No matter how she angled the box, the only thing she saw was a sliver of light and nothing else. After a few minutes of struggling she threw the box to the ground with a huff and brought her knees to her chest, wrapped her arms around them and buried her face. 

Thankfully, the other kids seemed oblivious to her little outburst of frustration… well, everybody except for one apparently.

She heard the grass rustling next to her and what suspiciously sounded like a box,  _ her _ box, being picked up too. Catra reluctantly lifted her head from her knees and caught the gaze of the last person that she wanted to talk to right now. The same person that she had been avoiding for the past two days.  _ Adora _ .

“Need some help?” she asked with a small smile.

Catra kept her expression neutral. “If I needed help I would’ve asked for it.”

Her smile fell. “We both know that’s not true.” 

Adora continued to fiddle with the box for a few moments, adjusting the paper on the inside, pricking a new hole into the foil, and securing the lid tightly before continuing. "Look, I don't know why you're ignoring me... but I'm sorry if I did something wrong… I’ll leave you alone." She set the box back down on the ground before standing up and returning to her group.

Catra closed her eyes and let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding in.  _ I’m so dumb. How am I ever going to fix this without looking like an idiot? _

She looked down at the box again and picked it. When she pointed it at the sun this time she was shocked to see a crescent shape illuminated on the white paper on the box and it the slight dimming of light around her was anything to go by, she was finally able to see the eclipse! She would thank Adora… but she obviously couldn’t do that right now… maybe later if she remembered.

As she continued to watch the crescent in the box getting slimmer and slimmer, she heard a  _ thwack _ sound and a Lonnie yelling, “Kyle! Don’t look directly at the sun!”

The next few seconds were quiet as the campers watched through the boxes as the sky dimmed. This would’ve been really cool if she’d gotten to experience it with Adora, but she wasn’t sure if she was ready to address her yet. Adora probably hated her right then, after being ignored and then snapped at.

_ What kind of friend am I _ ? Catra lowered her box and stared into her lap as the sun slowly came back. This is no way to treat someone she cared about, but she didn’t know how to fix it. She wasn’t good at  _ talking _ like Adora was. She never had been.

The eclipse was over within a matter of minutes, and the boxes they’d spent the morning building became immediately useless. It might’ve been petty, but Catra resented hers for only working after Adora messed with it. She glanced up at the other cabin across the grass and saw Adora with her new friends, Glimmer and Bow.

They were talking to her, pointing at their boxes and probably being nerds, but Adora didn’t look too into it. Her shoulders were slumped downwards, nothing like her usual perfect posture.  _ Have I really made her that upset? _

Again, Catra looked at her box. After being so rude by ignoring her, Adora had actually helped her. Because that’s what friends do. Friends...or whatever she wanted them to be.

She tucked the box under her arm and headed towards her cabin to put it away in a safe place. When Catra entered her cabin, she quickly lifted her pillow, snatched the polaroid of Adora that she took a couple days ago from under it, placed it in the box and then shoved the whole thing under her bed, behind the bag that she came here with, where no one would  _ ever _ find it.

Catra straightened out her uniform and headed to the mess hall for lunch.

She kept her head hung low as she entered the building, and as soon as she walked through those doors, her appetite vanished. Instead of lining up to get whatever delicious food Razz was serving up this afternoon, she sat down in an abandoned table in the corner of the hall and rested her head in her arms.

She was content trying to spend this lunch hour dozing off, but a firm  _ unfamiliar _ hand on her shoulder shattered those hopes instantly. Catra snapped her head up to glare at whomever had the audacity to touch her, when she was met with a surprisingly recognizable face. 

It was Bow… and Gimmer, standing off to the side, not too far from them but still a good distance away. Why they had approached her in the first place was beyond her. Whatever it was she just wanted to get it over with.

“Hey, are you okay?” Bow asked as he removed his hand from her shoulder.

“I’m fine.”

‘You don’t look fine.” 

She scowled. “Well, I am,  _ okay _ ?”

“Bow!” Glimmer half shouted. “We’re supposed to be talking about Adora, remember?”

_ So that’s what this is about. Should’ve known. _

“Everyone’s feelings are valid, Glim!” 

“Ugh, whatever.” Glimmer approached and threw her hand down on the table, startling both Bow and Catra. “Look. You need to talk to her. And I don’t know what I have to do to convince you, but I’m not scared of you.”

Catra straightened her posture and gripped the edge of the table. “You do not want to go there  _ princess _ .”

Glimmer placed her other hand on the table and leaned forward into Catra’s space. “Oh yeah?”

“Guys!” Bow pulled her back. “Please, stop!”’

“She’s the one that started it!” Catra shouted, drawing a few eyes from nearby tables.

“Glimmer, go get us some food and I’ll meet up with you in a second. Let me just talk to Catra.”

“But--” He gave her a look. “Okay, fine...” She sighed and Catra left a small victorious smirk grace her face, which Glimmer must've noticed, because not a second later she changed her answer. "You know what? Actually, I'm going to stay. I want to hear what she has to say."

Catra halfway growled at her, before she turned her attention back to Bow. “Whatever… what do you even want?”  _ There were a thousand things she’d rather talk about with them than Adora. _

He sighed. “I just think you need to talk to Adora. Ever since movie night…” Catra cringed at the mention of that. “...she has been  _ different _ , and honestly so have you. Avoiding her isn’t doing either of you any good and your both obviously hurting, so please just at least consider it?”

“Look, you don’t know me. Adora, she’s...” God, it was hard trying to put her frustration out into words for these two people to understand. She didn’t know why she was bothering, but Catra didn’t want to keep feeling like this. “She’ll be fine. You hardly even know us.”

Glimmer’s face turned pink with anger. “Adora  _ cares  _ about you! You can’t just let her be upset and think you hate her!”

This made Catra’s chest squeeze.  _ She cares about her. _ “Adora doesn’t think I hate her.”

“Well she wouldn’t know any better, since you won’t talk to her.”

It looked like Glimmer was getting genuinely upset at Catra. Her hands clenched into fists, but before she could say anything else, Bow put a comforting hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“It’s easy to be mad,” he said calmly, looking over at Catra, “and we’re not trying to stick our noses into your business. But Adora is hurt, and the only way for her to feel better is if you talk to her.”

Again, Catra’s heart squeezed.  _ Did she really have this affect on Adora?  _ Was she seriously that upset?

Her jaw clenched, but she refused to look either of the other people in their eyes. “...Is she really that upset?”

“Dude, obviously. We haven’t even known her for a month and even  _ we _ can tell something is wrong.”

Damn it. Things weren’t supposed to happen like this. And other people were definitely  _ not  _ supposed to get involved. If Catra didn’t do something soon, things were going to get annoying. 

She looked away, thinking about how to respond for a moment before clenching her teeth again. “Fine. You want me to talk to her?” She stood from her seat. “Then I’ll talk to her.” Catra turned and began to walk towards Adora’s table. There was no real plan, but she knew if she didn’t do something on impulse, nothing was going to get done.

“Wait! Now?!” Bow called after her.

“No time like the present, Arrow Boy.” She dismissed him without even looking back.

But when she finally locked eyes with Adora, her heart began to race as quickly as her mind was.  _ Oh shit. I’m really about to do this aren’t I? Why? Why am I so stubborn all the time?! Yeah Catra it’s totally a good idea to make a scene in the middle of the mess hall to confront your best friend/crush about a ‘kiss’ that happened.  _ She swallowed hard as she noticed silence washing across the room and multiple eyes following her every movement.

There was no going back now.  _ I’m definitely going to regret this. _

Do it for  _ her _ , she thought to herself.

She stopped directly in front of Adora and cleared her throat. “Hey, Adora.” It sounded a lot weaker than she wanted it to, and her friend immediately hardened.

“How about you try again,” she bit back.

Catra was definitely not used to Adora being angry at her. It made her stomach feel like mud. Was this all because of what she did? “Can we… can we talk?” She looked around the mess hall. People were definitely staring. “Maybe somewhere else?”

“Anything you have to say to me can be said here.”

She looked at her again. “Uh, you sure...?”

“Absolutely.”

Catra sighed. The icky feeling didn’t leave, and it only would after they talked. “Adora, please?” She offered her a hand. “Just come with me.”

Adora’s face softened momentarily before hardening again as she stood from the table and walked away. Catra dropped her hand and watched her leave. Adora was halfway to the door before she looked back over her shoulder. “Well?” was the only thing she said and Catra realized she was meant to follow.

It was hard to ignore all the eyes on their backs as Catra and Adora left the mess hall to go outside.

They weren’t technically allowed to wander the grounds during mealtimes, but they didn’t go far. A thicket of trees off to the side of the building offered some shade from the sun, and that’s where Adora sat down on a stump.

Her expression still hard, she tapped her foot on the grass a few feet away, telling the other girl to sit, too.

_ I didn’t think this far ahead, _ Catra winced internally, taking a seat. What was she going to say? How could she apologize without looking like some idiot? And without...telling her everything?

Part of Catra was also self-conscious because she knew whatever happened there would be judged heavily by Glimmer and Bow--and she couldn’t handle more of their nagging.

“Catra.” Adora’s voice was soft, but clearly still hurt. “Why have you been ignoring me? It’s really not like you, and it sucks.”

“I didn’t...” Nothing felt quite right to justify her actions, so Catra kept her gaze lowered. “I didn’t know it’d hurt your feelings that much. I’m sorry. I just, I don’t know...”

A small breeze ruffled the leaves above them, almost covering the sound of Adora sighing.

“Did I do something wrong? Or say something wrong?”

“No, no. God, of course not.” The last thing Catra wanted was for Adora to think it was somehow her fault that Catra couldn’t handle emotions very well. “You could never do anything wrong like that. I--”

“Then  _ why? _ Is this about...you know...”

Catra forced herself to look up and at the face of her friend, who was blushing bright as a strawberry.

_ The cheek kiss. _ She thought back to that a few days ago and how Adora’s face was really soft against her lips and how she smelled like shampoo. How she wanted to do it again but also couldn’t bring herself to admit what happened.

After a minute of not saying anything, Catra let out a dramatic groan. “I’m not good at this stuff, Adora. You know that. You’re the smarty-pants with the words and...people and stuff.”

Adora actually laughed a little at that. “Words and people and stuff? That’s what I plan on going to college for, you know.”

Catra snorted, too. “Smartass. You know what I mean.” She glanced over at the mess hall and saw a few faces in the window watching them. Immediately, the faces disappeared when she looked.

They were quiet together for another while. Eventually, Adora drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She looked almost hesitant to say anything else, but her pink cheeks suggested she was still thinking about what had happened.

It clearly made her angry, but maybe it clearly wasn’t the kiss that made her angry. Just the way that Catra handled it. Like a jerk.

Catra might as well be the bigger person for once in her life… especially if how she was acting was bringing down Adora like this. She sighed. “Look, about the other night…”

Wary eyes flicked up to meet hers again. “We really don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“Adora. Let me do this… please.” After receiving a headnod in response, she continued. “ I really don't know what came over me…” That was a lie. Catra knew exactly why she did it, but she still couldn’t fully open up just yet and that made her heart ache. “It was just something that we did as kids, you know? And having a movie night like that again kinda put me back into that mindset..." Another lie, but she hoped Adora would take the bait like always.

“Oh you mean like how we used to hang out every weekend when we were little and you would always give me a kiss on the cheek when you left?”

Catra’s face heated instantly. “Yeah…”  _ We can go with that. _

“Those were always nice…” Adora said just barely above a whisper, but her eyes widened when she realized what she just said.

_ What?  _ Catra stared back at her speechless and a long moment passed before she spoke again after she cleared her throat. “But yeah, I guess I thought I might’ve...embarrassed myself after doing that,”  _ careful, don’t be an idiot,  _ “so I didn’t really know what to say. That’s why I didn’t talk to you. Because I’m bad at...talking.”

Despite there still being a bit of discomfort in the air, Adora sat back and laughed a little more. “You’ve  _ never _ been good at talking, stupid.”

“Hey! I’m trying to apologize!”

“I know, and I’m trying to say I accept your apology.” Adora leaned over and put her hand over one of Catra’s, almost as an encouragement. “But next time, talk to me, okay?” Their eyes met, and Catra nearly got lost again in the ocean of steely blue.

Adora was always the most beautiful person in the world to her. She wanted to be able to bottle that color blue and put it in her pocket, to feel its warmth when she got cold. She wanted--

Oops, she was staring. Catra bit the inside of her cheek. “Well… lunch is probably almost over...” To that, the other girl took her hand away.

“Right, yeah…  _ lunch _ … the lunch that’s being held in the mess hall… that we should probably be getting back to right now,” Adora rambled.

“Exactly.”

“Yup.”

They held each other’s gazes for another moment.

Catra glanced away first and then back again. “...We’re good now, right?”

“Never been better!” Adora squeaked before abruptly standing from her stump and heading back inside.

_ What even just happened? _

* * *

Once she was back inside of the mess hall, Adora quickly found her table again and plopped herself down across from Glimmer and Bow who just gave her a look. She knew that her face was red, that her eyes were wide and that she was probably sweating, but how else was she supposed to react to basically confessing that she liked Catra’s cheek kisses when they were kids and  _ loved _ them even now?

Speaking of Catra, she joined their table a few seconds later, sitting far away enough from Adora to fit another person in between them, without a word.

Bow glanced between the pair. “You guys talked, right?”

“Yep.”

“Mhm.”

He raised a brow. “And?”

“Everything is  _ fine _ … why wouldn’t it be?” Adora chirped.

“I didn’t say-”

“It’s so good in fact, that we’re back to normal! Right, Catra?”

The girl beside her startled a bit. “Right.”

“See?” She forced a smile. “What do we have planned for today?”

“Well, today was going to be a science themed kinda day…” Glimmer tried to cut the tension. “You know, with the eclipse and all.”

“Oh boy...” She heard Catra mutter under her breath.

“Lighten up.” When Adora nudged the other girl and smiled at her, Catra’s annoyance seemed to melt a little. “We’ll have fun together, right?”

“... _ Fine _ . Maybe. Jeez,” Catra mumbled.

Now that they’ve got this weird sort of understanding between them (whatever exactly that might be), Adora knew she was going to enjoy messing around with Catra all day. Even if some of the science crafts and experiments weren’t their cup of tea, they’d be goofing around  _ together. _

…

…

Getting into the day wasn’t all that bad. After the initial awkwardness between them wore off, Adora was able to tease and bug Catra just as much as usual. Sometimes, Catra’s usual sassy attitude was accompanied with a blush or a flustered mumbling, which wasn’t really new, but it seemed to be happening more often now.

Their afternoon was spent mostly within the mess hall as they completed various experiments, that were oddly all very crafty, but still fun nonetheless. They competed to see who could make the strongest structure out of popsicle sticks, they made models of chemicals with toothpicks and marshmallows, labeled some really old star charts along with other various activities.

Even Adora could admit, most of what they did was cheesy. It was something to do, and the cabins were allowed to mingle, so even Catra didn’t complain as much as she could’ve. As the time passed, every so often, Adora would glance over at Catra and noticed her either deep in thought or sneaking glances over.

Again, this  _ also _ wasn’t anything new, but it made a new sort of feeling inside of Adora get a little stronger. What had she told Glimmer and Bow those few nights ago?

_ “I think I like Catra.” _

She tried very hard not to think too much about it, but she failed. It was impossible to deny the reactions her heart would have when Catra would look at her. The thing she wasn’t certain about was exactly what to do with herself and those feelings.

Maybe that’s why she was so furious when Catra stopped talking to her after the cheek kiss _. _ She was confused, about what the other girl had done and about her own feelings, that it wasn’t fair at all that she was just ignored? Did her explosion of confusing feelings not matter? Once Catra apologized, she felt much better, but it didn’t quite fix everything.

The rest of their afternoon was filled with these little moments that left her perplexed by Catra’s demeanor, but also left her wanting a little more. She didn’t quite know how to feel about this new revelation just yet.

For now, she was just having fun with it.

By the later afternoon, Angella and Ms Weaver eventually called for the cabins to help clean up the mess hall and prepare it for dinner that night. Since nearly a dozen teenagers had spent the last several hours in the same building, it had become messy.

Everyone helped out to clean and eventually set up the tables and chairs before Razz finished up with cooking their dinner. This had been one of very few days both cabins were allowed to actively mingle for this long. Adora couldn’t complain about it.

Her, Catra, Glimmer and Bow sat at the table that they had that morning, joking to each other and talking about their high school careers. Adora did her best not to slip up about Catra’s debate team again. It was an unusual bonding moment, with her lifetime best friend and her new camp friends.

Razz’s cooking was as delicious as usual. She might be a little crazy old lady, but by the end of their meal, everyone was patting their full stomachs.

“Clear your plates and meet back at the tables please, campers.” Angella stood at the front of the mess hall and projected her voice outwards. “We’ve got a special treat tonight!”

_ Another special treat?  _ Was it anything like movie night? Adora wondered. She wasn’t sure if she could take Catra putting her hand on her leg again like she did a few days ago. That was…  _ a lot _ for her. However, they did as they were told and met the two counsellors back when they finished cleaning up from dinner.

“What do you think they’re going to make us do this time?” Catra leaned over and whispered unenthusiastically to Adora. “Ms Weaver’s idea of a ‘treat’ is probably latrine duty.”

“Well, if this is a ‘treat’ from both of them, it can’t be  _ that _ bad, right?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true.”

And that’s when they spotted Ms. Weaver exit the kitchen with a bunch of skewers in one hand and a bag of marshmallows and chocolate in the other. “Yes, we decided to have a bonfire tonight, as camp tradition dictates on the night of an ellipse.”

“Local superstition also says the fire helps keep darkness of the woods at bay. Giant beasts are known to roam this part of the forest at night.”

“Ooo really fucking scary stuff right here guys.” Catra snarked. “Better watch out or the darkness will get cha! Whatever the fuck that means.”

“Catra…”

“Don’t worry princess, I’ll protect you.”

Adora felt her face flush unintentionally. “I didn’t mean that-”

Angella clapped her hands together. “Alright, looks like we have everything we need! When everyone is ready, let’s head to the pit by the flagpole!”

The campers followed behind Angella and Weaver as they made their way towards the center of camp. The four friends--Bow, Glimmer, Catra, and Adora--walked next to one another with their arms linked. Although the warnings from Angella about beasts were totally bogus, it felt safer to go as a group.

Thankfully the bonfire was already constructed; it just had to be lit.

While the counsellors began the process of lighting the bonfire (keeping a careful eye on Catra), the campers all sat down in the grass a safe distance away from it. Of course everyone chose to remain in the groups that they had been in during the day, meaning that Adora got to spend even more time with her best friend and cabinmates.

They mindlessly chatted as the flames of the bonfire grew and the warmth began to fight the nighttime chill around them. The sky around them was dimming, sun getting closer and closer to the horizon. Nothing about the scene was inherently spooky, but the whole time Adora felt like she was being watched.  _ Stupid myths. _

It was a weird feeling; she loathed having to look behind her and out into the woods past the mess hall every couple of minutes.

_ Why! Why did they have to mention the superstition?! _ She looked behind her again.  _ You know they were probably just joking. _

The forest was getting pretty dark... And there was a slight enough breeze to rustle the underbrush... If something  _ was _ out there, it could easily hide.

With the murmur of the campers and the crackling of the fire...and the wind... She could almost feel the temperature dropping...

Out of nowhere, something sharp grabbed her side and shoulder. Her heart stopped before she shrieked so loud the whole camp looked at her.  _ Sharp?? Claws?? _ She whipped her head around, ponytail smacking--

Catra. Cackling and holding onto her best friend with wriggling fingers.

Adora shoved her. “Catra! Why did you do that?!”

“Oh my god…that was the funniest thing ever.” She gasped between laughs. “You should’ve seen you face Adora… you were so scared… I can’t…”

“You’re insufferable.” She wrinkled her nose. It was hard not to be embarrassed at screaming when it wasn’t even fully dark out yet.

Catra wiped a tear from her eye. “Look, I’m sorry.”

“Are you really?”

“...No.”

“I didn’t think so.”

“Come on Adora! Don’t be like that… it was funny, right guys?” She looked to Glimmer and Bow, who’d seen the whole thing.

“Honestly? Yeah that was pretty hysterical.” Glimmer agreed, snickering into her hand. 

“Okay, that was  _ kind of _ mean… but it was funny,” Bow stated. “You seriously have to stop being so paranoid Adora. The monsters in these woods are just a myth.”

“I hate all of you.” Adora crossed her arms over her chest and looked forward towards the bonfire.

She sat there as Catra moved closer to her and tried to pry one of her arms from her chest, which only made her tighten them close to her body.

“ _ Adoraaa _ .”

“Catra.”

“Please.” She tugged at her arm again.

Adora finally relented and untucked her arms from their position, letting one easily slide into Catra’s without second thought and intertwining their fingers. “I don’t know why I continue to trust you after you pull stunts like that.”

“Like we don’t all know why,” Glimmer chimed in. Her and Bow glanced at each other with a knowing look, but it just made Adora’s face get hot.  _ What was that supposed to mean?? _

No, she knew exactly what they meant.

She didn’t let go of Catra’s hand, though. 

“Well… you and Bow are holding hands too.” She scoffed.

“I mean, we always hold hands... unlike you two.”

Adora furrowed her brows and shared a quick side glance with Catra that read ‘ _ no they don’t _ ’ before she looked back at the pair. Adora has been noticing a few changes between them, much like she has been with herself and Catra, but she was more than willing to let this awkward conversation slide if it meant getting out of discussing them with one another.

The bonfire ended up being more fun than they expected. Even Catra was roasting marshmallows and laughing at Kyle, who had dropped his fifth marshmallow into the flames on accident.

As the sun disappeared completely, the ten campers (and counsellors) fed the flames and stuffed themselves with treats. Adora’s chest felt much lighter than it did that morning, now that her best friend was talking to her again. And ever since they were more comfortable with holding hands, they were something she couldn’t stop looking at.

Eventually, someone brought out a portable music player (Mermista, probably) and began playing music. It turned the flickering fire brighter even, getting the chance to enjoy something this freely.

Glimmer and Bow were dancing almost immediately. They spun each other around and waved marshmallow sticks in the air, laughing and glowing in the light of the bonfire. Others followed suit, dancing as poorly as teenagers do.

_ Should I...ask Catra to dance?  _ The thought of that made Adora’s heart nearly explode right out of her chest.

She stood, brushing some dirt and grass from the seat of her pants. “Heyy, Catra,” she started.

Catra’s eyes turned up to look at her, a tooth sticking out from her smile.

_ Oh she’s cute.  _ Adora nearly flubbed. “Everyone is dancing. I mean, you don’t like dancing, but like--”  _ She’s going to laugh at you.  _ “If you want to, the music is...fun. Do you? Want to, I-I mean.”

Catra blinked. “Are you asking me if I want to dance to that god-awful pop rock? I think I’m good.”

_ That didn’t go as planned _ . “I didn’t mean you had to dance  _ with _ me, I just...”

“Adora.” The amusement in Catra’s expression softened. She looked like she had to consider what to say, but ended up blowing a raspberry. “Stop being a dork. You know I don’t like dancing in public, that’s all.”

Yeah, that was true... Even at the school dances they’d been to these last few years, Catra would go for the snacks and to laugh at the girls trying to dance in stilettos and the boys in their grade failing miserably to flirt with the seniors. 

She’d openly voiced her disdain for the junior prom they’d gone to a few months back, which they had left before the king and queen were even announced. It wasn’t all too bad though because they ended up binging fast food on a curb outside a restaurant close to their high school after leaving the dance. Adora was not even bothered that her dress was covered in ketchup and grease by the end of the night, and Catra could not have cared less about her suit turned sloppy by the time they got back to Adora’s house.

And if Adora and Catra woke up curled into one another after they passed out on the couch from stuffing themselves? That made it even better.

Adora shook herself of the memory in an attempt to clear her thoughts. “What I meant was… did you want to get out of here?”

Catra’s brows raised. “... And go where?”

“I don’t know… somewhere more quiet… just the two of us?”

“Uh, yeah. Sure. Of course.” She stood and waited for Adora to lead them off to somewhere, which she hadn’t really quite figured out where they would go.

She scanned the area quickly, but it was hard to see anything in the dark… So she thought back to the tour they had taken through the camp on the first day they got here and recalled that the field by the cabin might be a good spot to go. It was an open enough area that nothing in the woods could sneak up on them, and it’s location behind the cabins would offer them some sort of privacy.

“Well?” Catra was still staring at her.

“Oh, um I was just thinking.”

She smirked. “You don’t have a plan do you?”

“No! … I mean yes! I do have a plan…”

“Then why are we still standing here, hm?”

“Ugh, you’re so… UGH!” She grabbed Catra’s wrist and began leading her to the field.

“Very eloquent wording, princess.”

“Shut up!” Adora barked, but she couldn’t help but smile to herself as they marched on.

* * *

Catra was still finishing off her last s’more when Adora pulled her up and away from the group. She was a little surprised that her friend was leading her off to a much darker section of the camp after being such a scaredy-pants before, but it didn’t make her any less excited.

_ “Did you want to get out of here?” _ Adora had asked. The words sounded a little nervous coming from her, and of course they were followed by stuttering. It made Catra’s stomach do backflips hearing her ask that. She knows her well, wanting to spend time alone without the crowd.

They ended up in the main field at the side of camp. It was almost completely dark there, with only the light from the bonfire farther away as well as a lamp hanging off a nearby building. It was just barely enough to see each other with.

Still, Catra’s stomach didn’t have any less butterflies.

In the field, Adora let go of Catra’s wrist and plopped down on the grass beside her before she adjusted her position so that she was sitting crossed legged and leaning back on her hands. Catra immediately joined her and mirrored her position.

The ground was still warm from the day, which helped to fight off some of the nightime chilliness, but she was still cold. She scooted closer to Adora until their thighs were brushing, the latter not even noticing as she was too busy already staring up into the sky.

Ever since they were little, Adora has always been fascinated by the stars.

Catra nudged her with her shoulder. “Hey, you gonna look at them all night? Or, are you going to talk to me?”

“Why can’t I do both?”

“Because I’m more important than a bunch of dots in the sky, obviously.”

Adora finally looked at her. “Those  _ dots _ are stars, planets, other galaxies… lightyears away that could be harbouring life…” Her expression softened. “...but yeah I guess you're pretty important too.”

Catra felt her cheeks flare. “God, you’re such a dork!”

She tried to turn her head, so that she could hide the blush that bloomed on her cheeks, but when she went to face away, she felt a soft touch to the side of her face. Catra’s gaze immediately flew back up to meet Adora’s but she wasn’t looking at her eyes… no, she was looking at her mouth?

Catra swallowed hard. “Uh, Adora?”

“Oh sorry, you just have something…” She leaned in closer.

Catra suddenly became hyper aware of everything and anything that was on her face right now. Adora’s warm hand, the sweat starting to bead on her forehead, … and the sticky marshmallow that clung to her bottom lip.

_ Oh god. _

“Wait! Adora I can--” She was cut off by a thumb sweeping across the corner of her mouth, making it part briefly. 

“No, it’s fine. I already got it, see?” Adora raised her thumb in front of Catra’s eyes, before she stuck it in her own mouth to clean it. “Just marshmallow.” The edges of her eyes crinkled, almost like she knew what she was doing.

Catra was stunned into silence, but she was internally screaming.

Adora must’ve noticed because her expression immediately shifted into concern.

“Are you okay?”

  1. But instead of answering, Catra flopped backwards onto the grass. _Am I dead?_



“Catra?!”

“I-- I’m fine. Just tell me about the stars already like you always do...” She mumbled with a vague hand gesture to the sky. That’s about all she had in her right now.

“Oh, uh... sure!” When Adora laid back down next to the other girl, Catra could’ve sworn she saw her lick her lips, like an afterthought.

Honestly, Catra didn’t care about the stars. She couldn’t retain any of what Adora was telling her, about different constellations or which were planets or literally anything but the feeling in her ribs. While her best friend talked, Catra eventually got the nerve to turn to look at her.

To watch Adora as she babbled, the shapes her mouth made, the way her eyelashes fluttered when she laughed. It was dark out, but Catra saw everything.

Time went by, and she almost seemed to run out of astronomy facts to share. Their conversation dwindled to a comfortable silence where both of them were just laying on the grass together, arms and legs touching just barely. The moon was beginning to raise above the tops of the trees, spreading silvery light across the field.

Catra watched it, not wanting to have to leave. Not wanting to ever give this up.

“You know,” Adora’s voice broke through the moment of stillness, “they remind me of your freckles, kind of.”

Catra glanced over to find Adora looking at her again. With both their faces turned, their noses were just inches apart. She could almost taste the chocolate and marshmallow on Adora’s breath, sending goosebumps down her arms.

“The stars,” Adora clarified, not seeming to notice their closeness as much as Catra. “Your freckles look like constellations.”

_ The stars... _

To compare something as mundane as freckles to something as  _ endless _ as stars...it was a very Adora thing to say. And it made Catra’s heart break. What could she possibly say to something like that?

Their faces were close. Closer than they had been before. Adora kept staring, waiting for the other girl to respond. Her eyes turned the color of the moonlight, glistening in something like anticipation. So close...

Catra inched her hand over and was just about to find Adora’s before--

“Hey, losers.” A highly unwelcome voice interrupted the moment. Lonnie, towering above their heads sneering. “Ms. Weaver has been looking for you two. Have you been here making out this entire time?”

“We haven’t--”

“ _ Fuck off, _ Lonnie!” Catra stands, immediately, reeling back a balled fist.  _ How dare she interrupt this moment.  _ Anger roars in her ears. “You’re just jealous because no one  _ likes you!” _ She was a second away from punching Lonnie in her stupid, ugly face before being stopped.

Adora had reached up and taken hold of Catra’s hand, squeezing her fingers gently. “It’s not worth it, Catra. You don’t want to get in trouble.”

_ It would be so worth it.  _ The feeling of Catra’s fist on Lonnie’s dumb face-- But the warm look Adora is giving her now seems to quell any anger that stirred within her at Lonnie’s arrival.

“Okay, fine.” She let Adora intertwine their fingers again. “Let’s just go back to our cabins.”

Adora smiled brightly at her as they began to walk away from Lonnie. The only thing that’s worth not beating the crap out of someone like Lonnie was the feeling of holding hands with Adora.

“Hey! You can’t just walk away from me!”

Catra turned around so she was walking backwards for a moment and flipped the bird with her spare hand. “Oh, would you look at that? Guess I am.” She shrugged before facing forward again.

Behind them in the field, Lonnie stomped and yelled curses at them.

While walking, Adora giggled beside Catra. “Wow… you two are something else…”

“Eh, it’s just how we are. You know that.”

“I know, but I feel like you two would really get along if you didn’t yell at one another for five seconds.”

Catra gave her a blank stare. “Adora? Don’t ever say that again.”

She laughed into the night sky and Catra couldn’t help but laugh along with her.

By the time they reached their cabins, everyone else was already inside. Catra and Adora exchanged a hug before going their separate ways. It appeared both of them had the same idea, because when she got to the cabin door, she looked back to the other building and saw Adora doing the same.

They waved, then went inside.

Between that moment and the next was a haze. Lingering memories of Adora’s finger on her lip and their hands grasping and the feel of the cold night air on their faces. As she climbed into her bed for the night, she couldn’t help but realize that this was one of the best days she has had at this camp so far despite the horrible beginning.

She fell asleep with the one and only thing that ever seemed to be on her mind these days…

_ Adora _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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